PHILOSOPHY 
AND PHENOMENA 

OF 

SPIRITUALISM 



REV. FRANKLIN A.THOMAS, D.S.S 




Class _ 
Book_ 



13 F 



(bpyrigliffi?- 



C0FXR1GHT DEPOSIT. 



PHILOSOPHY AND 

PHENOMENA OF 

SPIRITUALISM 



BY 

Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S. 

Author of "Soul Science, the Proof of Life After 
Death," "How to Hold Circles for Developing Medium- 
ship at Home," "How to Develop Psychic Power," etc. 



FRANKLIN A. THOMAS 

PUBLISHER 

BROOKLINE, MASS. 






Copyright, 1922, 

by 

Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S. 

All Rights Reserved 



Machine Composition Co., Printer, Boston, Mass. 



DEC -4 *22 

@>CU692219 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 7 

Object 12 

To The Reader 16 

I. Thought, Love, Soul . . . . . . . 20 

II. A Brief Sketch of Boyhood Days, and up 
to the Period of Greater Understand- 
ing and Realization 27 

III. My Journey Through The Spirit World 51 

IV. Proof of Spirit Return ...... 64 

V. Itinerary as a Spiritualist Worker. At 

New York City, Elizabeth, and Pater- 
son, N. J., Galveston, Tex., Chicago, 
III., Pittsburgh, Pa., Chicago, III., Far- 
mer City, III., Chicago, III., Waukegan, 
III., Chicago, III., Clinton, Iowa, Mar- 
shalltown, iowa, wlchita, kan., okla- 
HOMA City, Lawton, Okla., Enid, Okla., 
Blackwell, Okla., Lawton, Okla., 
Oklahoma City, Hammond, Ind., Farmer 
City, III., New York City, Atlantic 
Highlands, N. J., New York City, Des 
Moines, Iowa, Oskaloosa, Iowa, Hayes- 
ville, Iowa, New Sharon, Iowa, Sigour- 
ney, Iowa, Ottumwa, Iowa, Marshall- 
town, Iowa, Iowa City, Davenport, 
Iowa 110 

VI. Unjust Arrest For Spiritualistic Activ- 

ities 169 



VII. Itinerary as a Spiritualist Worker Con- 
tinued. At Dubuque, Wichita, Win- 
field, Lawton, Chickasha, Council 
Bluffs, Des Moines, Ottumwa, Omaha, 
Fremont, Lincoln 175 

VIII. Correspondence 212 

IX. A Sound Warning 217 

X. Why Every One Should Develop Medium- 
ship 224 

XL Itinerary as a Spiritualist Worker Con- 
tinued. At Des Moines, Chicago, New- 
York City, Newark, Providence, Brock- 
ton, Mass 231 

XII. Second Unjust Arrest For Spiritualistic 

Activities 237 

XIII. Why Capital Punishment Should Be 

Abolished 244 

XIV. Itinerary as a Spiritualist Worker Con- 

tinued. At Brockton, And in And 
Around Boston, Mass 249 

XV. Why Not? 259 

XVI. Spiritualism a Religion 265 

XVII. The Bible and Witchcraft 272 

XVIII. Massacres on Bible Authority .... 277 

XIX. War and Christianity 282 

XX. Letter From C. P. F 288 

XXI. Question and Answer; My Work. Con- 
tinued 294 

XXII. Itinerary as a Spiritualist Worker Con- 
tinued. In And Around Boston, at 
Brattleboro, Vt., Barre, Vt., Montreal, 
Can., Again in And Around Boston, 
And at Brattleboro 303 

XXIII. From a Lady in Iowa 323 

XXIV. Itinerary as a Spiritualist Worker Con- 

tinued. At Brattleboro, Jacksonville, 
Fla., Tampa, Fla., St. Petersburg, Fla., 
and Again at Tampa ...... 331 

XXV. Was The Savior a Spiritualist? . . .343 



XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 
XXXIX. 

XL. 



Religious Legislation 350 

A Message to Spiritualists 356 

The Truth 363 

Why The Bible Should Not Be Scattered 
Broadcast 373 

Why The Bible Should Be Read . . . 378 

J. G. S. Answer A. G. F 384 

Reply to Criticism 389 

Does The Church Save The Sinner? . . 396 

Again, Why The Bible Should Not Be 
Scattered Broadcast 404 

Why God Doesn't Kill The Devil . . . 419 

Who Wrote The Bible, And When . . 423 

The Seventy-Fourth Anniversary of 
Modern Spiritualism 438 

The True Resurrection 449 

Critics Failed in London. Itinerary as 
a Spiritualist Worker, Continued. At 
Brattleboro, and Springfield. Mass. . 463 

Death's Mystery. A Great Astronomer 
Reconciles Spiritism and Science . . 469 



INTRODUCTION 

This book contains, in part, the story of 
my early life; some of the many experiences 
I have had with spirits from my boyhood; a 
partial record of my being led by the spirit 
through the spirit world while out of my 
body; many convincing instances in proof of 
spirit return; some of my correspondence 
on various subjects, with the different Spir- 
itualist and other papers; reports and an- 
nouncements of my meetings and lectures; 
and my Reports of Societies for the last thirty 
years. Space in the different papers in which 
my correspondence appeared was limited and 
did not permit my going into full detail on 
the subjects taken up; I hope, however, that 
enough has been said for your enlightenment 
on the subjects contained herein to make it 
worth your while to read this book. 

When I began to write articles for Spirit- 
ualist and other papers, it did not occur to 
me to save those articles and have them com- 



8 SPIRITUALISM 

piled into book form. If it had, then all the 
articles I have ever written would have been 
saved for this work. Nor have I all the 
Church Notices or reports of meetings I have 
conducted, or in which I have taken part. 

When I was first impressed and commenced 
to write, I had not the least idea that in later 
years I should become an author, and that 
my name (if I may be pardoned for mention- 
ing the fact), would be known all over the 
world; or that there would ever be a call 
from my friends or the public for my writings 
and the suggestion to have them brought to- 
gether in book form. 

I am proud to have been one of the pioneer 
workers in the Spiritualistic field, and have 
suffered much for the cause of Spiritualism, 
in upholding its purity and promulgating its 
truth. I am writing this in defense of the 
glorious truth I love so well — that which I 
knoiv to be the truth, and which I am con- 
fident is vastly for the betterment of man- 
kind. 

My aim in writing the articles which are 
now brought together in this book was to 
make plain to the public the eternal truths of 
Spiritualism and the verities it teaches. I 
believe in the Phenomena as well as the 



Introduction 9 

Philosophy of Spiritualism. I should advise 
you to study and understand the Philosophy; 
then you will be ready to perceive the Phe- 
nomena and to understand how it is possible 
for a friend who has passed into the spirit 
world to send a spirit message through a 
spirit medium to mortals on the earth plane. 
You are in no condition to receive a spirit 
message until you understand the Philosophy, 
which will enable you to help the spirits that 
are attracted to you to manifest, or to give 
you the spirit message they have for you. 
You can not understand the Phenomena if 
you do not understand the Philosophy. 

The Philosophy teaches that we have both 
material and spiritual bodies and material and 
spiritual eyes to use while living on the earth 
plane. It teaches that it is possible for mor- 
tals, while living, to communicate with those 
who have gone into the spirit world, if those 
mortals have their spiritual eyes opened. The 
Philosophy teaches that our spirit eyes are 
given us to use while living in the body, so 
that we may be able to protect our spiritual 
bodies against so-called evil spirits, and so 
carry on our spiritual work while on earth 
and be happier here and when we pass into 
the spirit world. 



10 SPIRITUALISM 

It must be remembered that as there are 
good, bad, and indifferent kinds of people liv- 
ing, so when they pass into the spirit world 
their spirits will be of the same character as 
when those persons lived in the body, that is, 
either good, bad, or indifferent, as the case 
may be; and each will try to find some one 
still living whom it can impress to do what 
it did, or wanted to do, while living in the 
body. The spirit world and the spirits are 
all around us. We who are living in the 
body are in the spirit world today, as com- 
pletely as are those whose spirits have left 
their bodies and gone to the spirit world ; for 
there are only two places, Heaven and earth, 
and we must be in either the one of the other. 
We are not in the earth, therefore we must be 
in Heaven. 

The Phenomena of Spiritualism prove that 
spirits can communicate with mortals, but 
do not teach you how this is done ; neither do 
those phenomena teach you how to live so as 
to be happy here, or in the spirit world; nor 
do they inform you that the spirit messages 
you may receive from your spirit friends do 
not depend upon the spirit mediums but upon 
yourself. No medium can call spirits around 
you. Mediums can only describe the spirits 



Introduction 11 

that you have attracted to you, or that you 
bring with you, that they can see. 

Remember, dear friend, that if, every day 
of your life you were to receive through a 
spirit medium, spirit messages from the spirit 
of a loved one who has passed into the spirit 
world, that fact would not save you or make 
you any happier when you pass into the spirit 
world. The only thing that will make you 
happy here and now, and when you pass into 
the spirit world, is what you do yourself — 
not what some one else may do, but what you 
do. You are responsible, and you will be 
held responsible, for what you do ; and if you 
will allow yourself to be influenced or led 
astray by some spirit or mortal, you will be 
held responsible for all your wrong doings. 



OBJECT 

My object in giving to the public an ac- 
count of my lifework and experience as a 
Spiritualist is to present some idea of the 
mission, revelation and teachings of modern 
Spiritualism. Therefore this book is written 
not only for all who are now Spiritualists, but 
as well for those newly seeking the Truth, 
those who have either just entered the portal 
of the Temple or are standing upon the 
threshold, looking in. 

I have devoted much time to procuring all 
the information possible bearing upon the 
questions involved. Before engaging in Spir- 
itualistic work I gave years of study to the 
Philosophy and Phenomena of the religion, 
supplemented by extensive and continued in- 
vestigation. 

I have written the books, " How to Hold 
Circles for Developing Mediumship at Home/' 
" Soul Science, the Proof of Life after 
Death/' " How to Develop Psychic Power," 
and the present volume, with the hope that 
they will help those who are now in the posi- 
tion I once occupied, that is, groping in dark- 
ness at the foot of the ladder. 

The importance of any book depends 



Object 18 

largely upon the mental attitude of the 
reader. No mind grasps an idea outside of 
its own state, and a mind governed by pre- 
determined opposition to a topic will reject 
the most logical presentation of facts, so 
long as those facts disagree with the predeter- 
mined conception. 

The articles contained herein merit more 
than a passing reading. They should receive 
careful study, for each reading, accompanied 
by meditation and analysis, will reveal new 
lights of importance. Thus only will one be 
qualified to offer criticism. The subjects are 
of profound importance, and should be 
treated as such, in all stages of the discussion. 

My purpose in prefixing these comments is 
solely to ask that impartial thought be given 
to the dissertations contained in this book — 
for the open mind alone can learn. 

In its reaction against orthodox criticism 
and persecution, it was natural that Spirit- 
ualism should feel inspired to drop from its 
articles of belief nearly everything that sa- 
vored of orthodoxy, forgetting, perhaps, that 
religion is amenable to the law of evolution 
and that in all evolution there is a gradual 
growth, with the old blending into the new. In 
gaining a better understanding of a subject, 



14 SPIRITUALISM 

often mankind seems to move away from that 
subject — to return to it later with a new 
angle of vision. 

Each advancing year sees the thought of 
the world becoming more and more liberal 
and the mind of man made more ready for 
the great truths of the science, philosophy, 
and phenomena of Spiritualism. Thus it be- 
comes fitting that organizations be formed to 
promulgate these truths; to counteract the 
false teachings of the Sunday newspapers and 
the popular magazine with respect to them; 
to affirm our unalterable allegiance to the 
fundamental American doctrine of complete 
separation of Church and State, and to exert 
all honorable means to resist the insidious 
encroachments, under various guises, that are 
constantly being made on that great principle, 
mainly by the enemies of our public school 
system. 

As Mediumship is the basis of Spiritualism, 
it becomes our sacred duty to foster its un- 
f oldment and development to the highest pos- 
sible degree, and I urge upon our auxiliaries 
the importance of conducting properly super- 
vised developing circles, not only for begin- 
ners, but for the still further expansion of the 
powers of our more advanced mediums. One 



Object 15 

of the greatest needs of our movement is the 
carrying of our emancipation teaching into 
the regions now bound by the shackles of 
orthodoxy. It is the duty of every local soci- 
ety and every individual Spiritualist to do 
everything possible to build up new societies, 
and thus aid the cause, since spirit force is 
an undying force. As the body is the acting 
force in this life, so is the spirit the acting 
force in the spirit life, after the change called 
death. This is according to the teachings of 
our Spirit-teachers as you will learn from 
the pages of this book. 



TO THE READER 

While you are reading this book please try- 
to eliminate all prejudices from your mind 
and extend good-will to the sayings you find 
here, and you will get results. If you will 
only investigate these sayings with an open 
and unprejudiced mind, you will find them 
to be true. 

Destroy the thought that you are, or could 
be, inferior or superior to any one. Why? 
Because God could not create you inferior or 
superior to any one. And you must also 
destroy the thought that you are any more 
or any less sacred than any other person — 
then your mind will be purified. 

Man is what he is today because of cer- 
tain definite fixed principles that have been 
operating in his life without his knowledge. 
The secret of success is to learn those prin- 
ciples and then apply them, in order to be able 
to govern his thoughts and emotions, his 



To The Reader 17 

bodily conditions, the events of his life, and 
his final destiny. 

Man does not understand himself, so he 
believes the events of his life to be accidental 
and that his fate and destiny must continue 
to remain a mysterious uncertainty. 

It is possible for him to learn how to make 
life a complete success. The reason so many 
people are deficient, unpopular, and failures 
at the present time, is that they do not under- 
stand themselves. They have not been prop- 
erly taught in the schools, or in the homes, 
and so have had no chance to learn and to 
develop, to emerge from this darkened condi- 
tion into the light. 

To have a mental vision of what can happen 
and to be prepared to meet the situation 
effectively is the desideratum. Some people 
have a gift of foresight: they think, and 
with mental vision see ahead, and success is 
their reward. Others call it luck, and instead 
of analysing it, busy their minds with things 
that happened, and spend their time in lamen- 
tations, assuming that all chances for the 
present and future generation are gone for- 
ever! 

Which way are you going, up or down? 
Statistics tell us that only five men out of 



18 - SPIRITUALISM 

every hundred at the age of sixty have 
reached success, and that most of the other 
ninety-five are dependent upon others for 
their livelihood. Startling, you say? Yes, 
but true. It shows plainly that only a very 
few of us reach the ranks of the successful. 
When you start out in life you can go either 
way, up or down. If you wish to go up, you 
must be alert to catch the opportunity of the 
moment as it comes your way. 

The unexpected has happened, and just 
when you are least prepared! Of course, it 
could hardly be called " unexpected " had you 
been preparing for it. Some one has said 
that it is the unexpected happenings that 
show us what we are really made of, and 
strengthen our courage by putting it to the 
test. 

When the unexpected occurs, do not give 
way to discouragement and despair, but re- 
solve to see it through. Build up a good, 
strong, well developed body, a sound mind, a 
good memory, and a magnetic, well developed 
personality, that will enable you to meet the 
world successfully and to accomplish any 
purpose to which you may desire to dedicate 
your life ; the chances are that such an oppor- 
tunity will never be presented to you again. 



To The Reader 19 

This is the supreme, decisive turning-point 
in your life, at this moment you are deter- 
mining your destiny. 

Yours in the cause of Truth, 
Franklin A. Thomas. 



PHILOSOPHY ^PHENOMENA 
^/SPIRITUALISM 

CHAPTER I 

THOUGHT, LOVE, SOUL 

THOUGHT 

Successful lives grow from within outward. 
There can be no lasting success in outward 
affairs that does not spring from inward 
growth; and for this development of our 
thought and psychic power we are to depend 
upon ourselves and not upon others. Our en- 
tire physical environment is the direct, natur- 
al, and inevitable result of our own thoughts, 
and those of others directly concerned with 
us. 

Thought builds and shapes our character. 
Thought attracts to us our environment. 
Thought produces health and joy, or sickness 
and sorrow. Thought attracts to us poverty, 
or riches, happiness or misery. Thinking of 



Thought, Love, Soul 21 

these subjects is something more than the 
mere idea of their passing through the mind : 
it is to think with such an intensity of desire, 
such an exertion of will, such a power of faith, 
and such a glow of hope and expectation, that 
our interior spirit forces are unlocked and 
begin to assert their magnetic power upon the 
material world, and their creative power upon 
the spiritual realm around us. Thinking in 
this sense is the act of the whole being, not a 
mere exercise of the mentality. 

Each thought is a builder of all its condi- 
tions. Man is thus directly — and may be 
consciously — connected with every object and 
being in the universe and, according to his 
knowledge and development, may control and 
attract or repel what he pleases. We must 
learn that thought has a magnetic force and 
attracts to the thinker the good desired, or the 
evil feared. Our progress, safety, and suc- 
cess depend upon the utilization of our thought 
forces. These forces all operate in strict ac- 
cord with natural laws, and the more we learn 
of the laws that govern them, the better we 
can control those forces. 

These interior forces generated by thought 
may be rightly or wrongly directed, to our own 
good or harm, according as we cherish noble 



22 SPIRITUALISM 

or ignoble purposes. Cherish, then, the hope 
of better days, of greater power, and larger 
opportunities, and see in perpetual mental 
vision the brighter future before you. Re- 
member that as we foster the noblest aims and 
purposes, and unfold our thought forces and 
spirituality, we attract to us spirit intelli- 
gences that work in sympathy with us and 
often open the door to broader fields and wider 
successes. Watch, therefore, for new impres- 
sions, new impulses, new desires, which often 
come from the spirit realm to lead us "out" 
and "up" and "on" to nobler heights. 

LOVE 

Seek to love all men and to see God in every- 
thing. Have no fear of any person or any 
thing. If you are filled with love for all things 
you will have no fear, for fear is the lack of 
love. If you fear any thing or anybody, turn 
that fear into love, and you will have gained a 
great victory thereby. 

Love is the fulfilling of every law in the 
universe. Seek love in all things. Love will 
break down every barrier — this is what you 
need. Love helps to lift all burdens. Love 



Thought, Love, Soul 23 

will open the way, and will help you to carry 
on your work of love. 

Love is the highest law of which you can 
conceive. Love means happiness, and that 
happiness is within the reach of all. Joy and 
peace are the fruits of love and of right think- 
ing, and there is no reason why every one may 
not possess them. Go write it on your heart. 
And wait: your waiting will not be in vain. 
Make this thought a part of your daily life. 

Love for the highest is the beginning of reli- 
gion. Knowledge of the Truth is the light that 
illumines the temple within — self -illumina- 
tion, which brings a realization of our Divine 
nature — a realization which should come to 
all, however short or long the duration of life. 
" Truth does not pay homage to any society — 
ancient or modern ; society has to pay homage 
to truth or die." That society is the greatest 
where the highest truths become practical. 
Ignorance is man's most powerful enemy ; and 
is the cause of his greatest misfortunes. 

SOUL 

Soul is not the body, neither is it the spirit. 
It is not force, nor is it thought ; but it is the 
fruit of thought. Spirit is neither the body, 



24 SPIRITUALISM 

nor the soul. Spirit is the life within the body 
and controls it. There are three — spirit, soul 
and body. The spirit manifests through the 
body, and the work of the spirit is the soul. 
The body could not exist without the spirit, 
and the spirit could not manifest without the 
body ; it is evident, then, if there were no spir- 
it, there would be neither soul nor body. 

After we have sent thought out, whether 
good or bad, it remains the same : if it is pure, 
that is, if our thoughts are pure, the soul will 
be pure and perfect; and when we send out 
our thoughts we can never call them back to 
us again. 

Each soul is a circle ; the center is where the 
body is and the activity — the work of the 
spirit — is manifested there. Soul is the work 
of the spirit through the body, and will live 
on through eternity, doing good. The more 
good we give out, the more good we shall at- 
tract to us and the more perfect will be the soul 
and the body. Send out therefore the positive 
desire that your spirit shall go forward ; that 
greater opportunity shall come to you for pro- 
gress; that the height of your soul-desire, 
which is its mighty work for good, may be 
reached. 

Search well your spirit for love. Set a holy 



Thought, Love, Soul 25 

shrine for God within that temple ; crown him 
its ruler, for he dwells in you. He, who will 
illuminate your mind with the vision which 
the spirit creates, will bring about the realiza- 
tion of that vision in future years. He is your 
strength, your power, your health, and you 
must crown him ruler of your life. 

I am a living spirit, an instrument of God, 
and I know I was not made to be a mere instru- 
ment of creeds, customs, or preconceived ideas. 
I am a living spirit and I naturally know right 
from wrong, within myself. My body is the 
instrument through which I, the spirit, must 
act. 

I am made in the image of God; I am able 
to speak the truth and live the truth so long 
as I listen to my spirit-self and God — these 
two are one. I realize that God gave to all 
spirits, Himself, that goodness may be ex- 
pressed through each individual. I have 
naught else to do but to live in harmony with 
spirit-self and God. It is natural for any liv- 
ing spirit — and that is what each one of us 
is — to be happy and loving; and it is unnat- 
ural for us to be otherwise. 

Be satisfied to let your spirit be perfectly 
expressed through the flesh. Live to make 
your body a temple, an instrument for God 



26 SPIRITUALISM 

and your own spirit, which are one. Live to 
do good to all. In so doing you will be directed 
by your own true spirit-self, love of God, the 
spirit of all living things. Live to be obedient 
to your own spirit, your noblest impressions 
and feelings. Send no thought into the world 
that will not bless, or cheer, or purify, or heal ; 
have no aim but to make earth a fairer, better 
place in which to live, and rise each day 
into a higher sense of Life, Love, God, and 
Purity. 



CHAPTER II 

A BRIEF SKETCH OF BOYHOOD DAYS, AND UP 
TO THE PERIOD OF GREATER UNDERSTAND- 
ING AND REALIZATION 

I was born in Springfield, Illinois. My 
father was a farmer. He possessed a fund 
of common sense and good humor, was very- 
human, and liked to read good stories. He did 
not use liquor or tobacco ; did not play cards, 
nor would he permit dancing in the house. 

In 1869 my father and mother with six chil- 
dren, of whom I was next to the youngest in 
age, started for Kansas in what was called a 
moving wagon, or " prairie schooner," cross- 
ing the Missouri and Kansas State line July 
4, 1870. We stopped at a place in Kansas 
called Big Springs, for the remainder of the 
summer, and left there in the early spring of 
1871 for Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. 

My father left Illinois with a span of fine 
young horses, so gentle that the children could 
play around with them without fear. While 



28 SPIRITUALISM 

on the road he had opportunities to sell them 
at a good price, but because of their many 
good qualities he would not part with them 
for any sum of money. He knew good horses 
and how to take care of them. After leaving 
Big Springs he could not buy the grade of corn 
to which they had become accustomed in Illin- 
ois, and soon after reaching the place destined 
to be his home for so many years, one after the 
other, his horses died. 

There he was in a new country, with six 
small children, neighbors many miles apart, 
and could not get work at fifty cents a day; 
in truth, there was no work for anybody, for 
all the families, like ourselves, were new- 
comers and sadly lacking in worldly posses- 
sions. 

Father succeeded in getting a yoke of oxen 
and began to haul logs from the river, a dis- 
tance of twenty miles, and the only place 
where there was timber. He hewed them into 
shape and commenced to build a cabin on 
which he worked, when he could, for three 
years. When not thus engaged, he was break- 
ing up sod; that is, plowing the new ground 
and planting it each spring with corn; the 
second year he would plow it again and sow 
wheat in the fall, harvesting it the next sum- 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 29 

mer if he raised any. All this while, we were 
living in a wagon bed — which was set on the 
ground — in which we had travelled from 
Illinois. 

We all managed to live and we got along 
very well for three years, or until '74, " grass- 
hopper year," as it was called, when the grass- 
hoppers swooped down upon the country in 
clouds, so thick sometimes as to hide the sun, 
and devoured every green thing before them. 
But for the aid received from Illinois and 
other States, the people in Kansas would have 
starved the winter following this deluge of 
destruction. 

The country at that time was filled with 
cowboys and Indians. There were no rail- 
roads and Wichita was on the Santa Fe trail. 
There was only one house in the place, a gov- 
ernment post office about ten by twelve feet; 
but there were hundreds of tents, for it was 
a great Indian trading post. Indians were 
there all the time, with United States soldiers 
guarding them. Wichita is at the junction of 
the Little and the Big Arkansas rivers; the 
former was a half mile in width, there was no 
bridge and the river was full of quicksands 
and, in fording it, one had to be very careful 
to avoid these holes. The Gulf Division of the 



30 SPIRITUALISM 

Santa Fe Railroad was started and built in 
1872, from Newton, Kansas, to Wichita and 
the South. 

My father was an Englishman and, in con- 
sequence, was allowed to " homestead " only 
eighty acres of land, and on this land he lived 
until just before his death. 

In 1871 our neighbors were yet " few and 
far between ;" however, each year brought new 
settlers and the population increased rapidly 
until the year of the grasshoppers, when 
everybody who had money went East, some of 
whom returned; others did not; and their 
places were soon filled, for newcomers arrived 
in Kansas year after year in increasing num- 
bers until the land was well settled. The 
farmers were raising large crops each year, 
receiving good prices for them, there was a 
great deal of railroad building, and a general 
boom of prosperity spread over the State. 

Wichita, like all the frontier towns, had its 
share of shootings ; its variety of drinking and 
gambling dens; its dance halls and other 
houses where the lowest types of men and 
women would meet; thieves and murderers 
went there from the East, to escape justice. 
After a while, though, as the country grew, 
these places and people moved on to the fron- 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 31 

tier settlement, and Wichita became a safe 
and respectable town in which to live. 

In those early days when sickness visited 
a house the neighbors rallied to the aid of the 
sick family, taking their turn at night in the 
care of the one who was ill, and giving freely 
of their services wherever needed. If a farmer, 
through inability in any form, could not plow, 
plant, or harvest his crop, his neighbors 
combined and did these things for him. When- 
ever a death occurred, the news was passed 
from house to house until the neighborhood 
knew it and all would attend the funeral. I 
have known my father to go fifteen miles to a 
funeral, a long distance in those days under 
prevailing conditions. The neighborhood cov- 
ered a wide territory, sheltered many warm 
hearts, and developed much of the milk of 
human kindness — in many ways it was a 
large family. 

In this new country there were no schools 
for me to attend when I was small ; later when 
there were schools they continued but three 
months in the year, and by this time I was 
large enough to help with the work on the 
farm and had but little opportunity to go, al- 
though I had a great desire for an education. 
During the short periods of my going to school 



32 SPIRITUALISM 

I had to get up at four o'clock in the morning 
and do the chores, walk two miles to the school- 
house, and home again in the afternoon. 

My father was a brave man : he never kept 
any firearms nor allowed any on the place, 
although in those early days in Kansas there 
were a great many large black wolves, wild 
cats, and numerous other wild animals. I 
dare say I have either learned, or inherited, 
from him this characteristic for I am not 
afraid of anything. He thought so much of 
his horses that he spared them all undue labor : 
whenever I went anywhere day or night I had 
to walk. 

I used to walk four and a half miles to 
church when it was so dark that I could not 
see my hand in front of me, and at a time 
when there was a " mad dog scare " all over 
the country. I was not afraid. There were 
several polecat dens beside the road that I fre- 
quented and I could see the polecats when I 
passed along there during the day; on moon- 
light nights I saw a great many more. It was 
my habit to sing or whistle wherever I went, 
clay or night, and as I neared these dens the 
polecats would move out of my path and stand 
beside it, looking at me. There was no fear 
between us, and their glances were friendly. 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 33 

I loved to walk along these roads at night, and 
the darker the night, the better I liked it. 

My friends used to call me an old man when 
I was a boy, for I preferred to be alone rather 
than with the best friend I had. I had no girl 
friends, and did not desire any. Yet, all the 
time I was keenly conscious of wanting some- 
thing — just what that something was I did 
not know. I loved to be out of doors walking, 
it seemed as though there was some one with 
me watching my every step, and I was filled 
with happiness. I could not express myself to 
my friends, either to their understanding or 
my satisfaction, so I kept it all to myself. I 
was seeking, seeking — but what? I could 
not tell. 

In my boyhood days church services were 
held in schoolhouses of course every family 
went to church, and the Sunday cooking was 
done on Saturday unless, perchance, the min- 
ister were a guest, in which case the rule was 
" more honored i' the breach than the observ- 
ance ", and choice dishes might be concocted 
with impunity. 

There were very few wells, and water was 
scarce. Water for cooking was carried in 
pails or hauled in barrels several miles ; need- 
less to say, facilities for bathing did not exist, 



34 SPIRITUALISM 

the bathtub used by us boys was the creek. 
Working continuously throughout the week, 
there was never a moment for a swim in the 
creek until Sunday morning; and it could be 
accomplished even then only by getting up 
very early in the morning, hurrying through 
our chores, and then a dash to the creek, an- 
other dash home, with a quick jump into our 
best clothes, then off four or five miles — 
sometimes walking — to church. As the days 
grew longer and hotter, after a week of early 
rising the temptation for a longer sleep on 
Sunday morning proved too great for the 
weakness of the flesh, consequently there was 
not enough time for both bath and church. 
Naturally in the matter of choice the bath 
won, when the " voters " were boys who had 
toiled from " early morn 'til dewy eve " in 
the fierce heat of a midsummer sun. 

However, despite the assertion that clean- 
liness is next to godliness, the ministers did 
not so regard the situation and preached 
against the wickedness of boys who, even for 
the sake of being clean, would go to the creek 
on Sunday morning instead of the church. 
Then we changed our ways to please the min- 
isters : in order to remove the stain of wicked- 
ness from our souls, we put on our best clothes 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 35 

over the week's accumulation of dust and dirt 
from the fields, and went to church and Sun- 
day School. 

The horses that had worked every day in 
the week drew the farm wagon, with its hu- 
man load, to church on Sunday returning so 
weary they could scarcely walk. We boys 
would go to the creek in the afternoon for the 
swim of which we had been deprived in the 
morning, and all went well until one very hot 
Sunday afternoon two of the smallest boys, 
who could not swim, got into deep water and 
were drowned. 

Again there went forth loud denunciations 
and stern rebuke from the pulpits all over that 
part of the State : they preached that God had 
punished the two boys by drowning them, and 
for a warning to other boys, for going swim- 
ming on Sunday instead of going to church. 
And we believed him, so there was no more 
bathing in the creek unless it rained so that 
we could not work on the farm, and that was 
a rare occurrence in Kansas. 

I joined the church and became an active 
worker, thinking I might find there, and in 
this way, the thing that I was seeking, but to 
no avail. I never had any trouble with the 
church — to this day I love and respect the 



36 SPIRITUALISM 

Presbyterian church, or rather the people in it. 

As time went by people came from all parts 
of the East and settled in Kansas. Then there 
were two classes of people — one class who 
went to dances, one who did not. 

Those who attended the dances very seldom 
attended church ; whenever they did, the thun- 
der of rebuke from the pulpit was so severe 
they never went again. The minister consid- 
ered them the most wicked people in this 
wicked world, and proclaimed that they were 
doomed to be burned in hell fire and brimstone 
throughout eternity. 

The people who did not dance were all 
church members and would not speak to, or 
associate with, those who danced. To be a 
church member in those days meant that one 
was not allowed to chew tobacco, smoke, 
gamble, dance, play cards, dominoes, or 
checkers; to play the fiddle, or to have one 
in the house. The fiddle, with all that per- 
tained to it, was regarded as among the 
works of the Devil; but when it became 
known as the violin the music was called 
sacred ! 

I prayed unceasingly that I might be led 
aright. I could hear a voice saying, " We are 
leading you aright/' and because I could not 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 37 

see any one in the flesh speaking to me and 
not knowing that the forms I could see were 
spirits of disembodied mortals, I doubted these 
voices. Often and often have I knelt in 
prayer, or stood with outstretched arms in the 
field while at work, and implored that light 
might come to me. I could see the same forms, 
and hear the same voices : " We are leading 
you to the light, we will impress you where to 
go and what to do. You are never alone/ ' 

I have made many changes and have been 
in many places — it seemed to me that I was 
compelled to go from place to place by these 
unseen forces, often against my will; but I 
never went to a new place or made a change 
that benefit did not come to me from that 
change, although I may not have realized it 
always at the time. I never went anywhere 
the second time that I was not welcome. 
Oftentimes I have gone to a strange city, un- 
aware of why I went or what I should do on 
arriving, but impelled to go; and always 
everything not only worked out all right, but 
I could see the meaning of it and rejoice over 
the good I had received and had done by going. 

The first people to open stores in Wichita 
later on formed a large wholesale store. My 
family was well acquainted with them and 



38 SPIRITUALISM 

the firm made me such a good offer that I 
intended to accept it. In order to prepare my- 
self for the position of bookkeeper, I began a 
course at the business college, with the full 
determination to settle there ; but I heard the 
voice saying: "No, you will not," which was 
not very encouraging for my business pros- 
pects. 

I had been in college a week when a large 
abscess appeared on my hand and of course 
interrupted my attendance; when my hand 
recovered the college had closed for the sum- 
mer. I did not go again, nor did I become a 
bookkeeper in the wholesale store in Wichita. 
I said to the voice that I could hear : " Why 
did you not want me to go to the business col- 
lege and take the position offered me here?" 
The voice replied: " We have other work for 
you, and if you had gone into business you 
would have stayed there and we did not want 
you to do this." 

For years I was at work in different places, 
and in some of them I would have liked to live 
all my life. It seemed as though, in a way, I 
was satisfied, yet deep down in my heart the 
yearning and longing went on for — I knew 
not what. But it looked brighter and brighter 
to me all the time, as though light would cer- 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 39 

tainly come sooner or later ; and I listened to 
the voices from the different forms that I could 
see around me; still, it was as though I was 
groping in darkness. 

Many times I have stood before a mirror 
face to face with myself to see if I could see 
who I was, or could understand myself. 
"Who am I?" was one of the greatest mys- 
teries I have had to solve. I knew that I 
was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John D. 
Thomas; that is, this was the explanation 
of the material part of me, my body, whose 
reflection I faced in the mirror. But there 
was something else besides this body, some- 
thing that I was trying to see more plainly 
and to understand better. When I essayed 
to talk with people about it, I found they 
did not know as much as I did. Why talk 
to them then? 

This went on for a number of years, until I 
decided to go to England in my search for that 
intangible thing for which I longed, and which 
I could not name — the something that would 
satisfy, would open my eyes to the light and 
truth and I would know who I was. 

I intended to sail from Boston for England, 
though I wanted to start from New York, but 
I listened to the voice that had spoken to me 



40 SPIRITUALISM 

so often and went to Boston. When I arrived 
in that city I felt perfectly satisfied ; I doubt 
if I could have been hired to go to England, 
for the atmosphere and conditions of Boston 
seemed to bring me nearer to the unknown for 
which I had longed all my life, though even 
then I did not know what it was. But I was 
very happy and I realized that a change of 
some kind for me was imminent. I had the 
feeling that I had been bound hand and foot 
all these years, and that I was soon to be set 
free to do the work before me — whatever it 
was — and thus still the incessant yearnings 
that had pursued me. I was not afraid to 
die — I had not thought of death — for the 
spirit forms I could see around me had told 
me that I would live to be an old man and that 
there was a great work for me to do before I 
left this earth. Of course I believed them, 
but I did not always trust them as I should 
have done, I am sorry to say. 

After listening to the many wonderful 
things they would tell me I would ask : " Why 
can't you lead me now to the place to which 
you want me to go? Oh, do tell me where 
it is, so that I may know what it is I am 
seeking and be happy." They said they 
would lead me to it, but would not tell me 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 41 

where or when. I would get discouraged 
sometimes because they would not tell me 
what I thought they should, so I left Boston 
for Bangor, Maine. Not feeling happy or 
satisfied there, I returned to Boston and I 
was inexpressibly happy again. 

One day while on the street I passed a 
museum and stepped inside. There were sev- 
eral little booths ; my attention was caught by 
one with the sign, " Madame K., Fortune 
Teller," and I went to it. She first told my 
fortune by cards, then through clairvoyance 
related events of my past life that I knew 
were unknown to anybody in Boston. 

Before this I had decided to stay in Boston, 
but the fortune teller said I would leave the 
city soon. I left the next day, going to 
Lowell, Massachusetts, where I remained 
for some time. I lived on Middlesex Street, 
and as I went back and forth on this street 
every day I noticed a sign which read: 
Madame X., Clairvoyant and Clairaudient 
Medium." There seemed to be for me a 
halo of light encircling that sign, and my 
experience with the Boston clairvoyant had 
made such a deep impression upon me, that 
I never passed this place without being moved 
to enter; one morning I decided to resist 



42 SPIRITUALISM 

this inclination no longer, and I paid a visit 
to Madame X. 

She told me who I was, calling me by my 
first name, and read my past life like an 
open book. But the wondrous thing was 
her revelation to me of the meaning of my 
life, telling me what it was I had so earnestly 
sought all through the years, explaining how 
and why I had been led from place to place 
in the way I had by the spirit forces, whom 
I had obeyed — albeit sometimes unwillingly 
— but afterward always aware that I had 
not erred in following their guidance. In 
other words, she opened my spirit eyes not 
only to the spirit world, but to myself, whom 
I could now see and understand, and I be- 
came one of the happiest of mortals. And 
now I am grateful for the fact that my 
life has been clean and pure and for my 
ability to put from me all but good thoughts, 
thus attracting to me the Good Spirits who 
led me, step by step, from one place to an- 
other — turning me aside from paths into 
which I might have wandered — and at last 
to the goal of my hopes and my long quest. 

In the light of Madame X's words, I re- 
called that since boyhood I have seen spirits 
(to which I have referred), and have heard 



Sketch op Boyhood Days 43 

spirit voices, around myself and other people. 
I could also see forms of animals going to 
and fro on the earth plane; supposing that 
everybody could see the same, I thought noth- 
ing of it. 

Some of these spirits were spirits of In- 
dians, some were of an ancient race, some 
were of a physically very small race and 
others of a very tall race of people. I could 
see them at any time of the day or night 
and could hear them speaking, singing, or 
playing on instruments, but could not under- 
stand all of the different languages. Some 
seemed to be happy, while others were not. 
I noticed that whenever I spoke to these 
spirits some of them would come close and 
answer by a word, or sign, or symbols; 
others would answer in a subdued tone of 
voice, or a whisper so low that I could 
scarcely hear them; again, others would 
speak so clearly that I had no difficulty 
in hearing them. 

I could also see different forms of animals : 
some were much larger and of a different 
species from any I had every seen alive; 
some seemed to be crawling, and some seemed 
to be walking to and fro on the earth. When 
I would meet or pass them, they did not 



44 SPIRITUALISM 

seem to be afraid of me; nor was I afraid 
of them. I noticed that whenever I would 
speak to them or attract their attention in 
any way, they would stop and look at me; 
they appeared as natural as life. I could 
see them wherever I went, and with some 
of them I would see strange and new coun- 
tries. Forests, rivers, lakes, and mountain 
ranges were filled with these different wild 
live animals whose forms I could see; the 
earth plane seemed to be covered with them. 
If the different forms of animals I saw — 
and I will admit that some of them were 
not very good looking — had been living, 
and I had met one in the road — well — 
there would not have been any grass grow- 
ing under my feet during my progress home- 
ward. 

I could not understand how, or why, I 
could see spirits and forms of animals, nor 
what they were doing here, until I com- 
menced to study the Philosophy of Spirit- 
ualism which explained it all. 

After studying the Philosophy of Spirit- 
ualism and making a thorough investigation 
into the different phases of so-called medi- 
umship, I found it to be absolutely true that 
spirits can and do communicate with the 



Sketch op Boyhood Days 45 

living, which proves the Immortality of the 
Soul. So I began to work, and to write 
articles in defense of the truth of Spiritual- 
ism, and became an active worker, speaker, 
and writer in the great field of life. 

Madame X. had told me that I was a 
" wonderful medium;" that I would lecture 
and give spirit messages before the largest 
Spiritualistic societies in the United States; 
that I would contribute articles to newspapers, 
and would write several books, all of which 
have come about according to her words. At 
the time I had not the least idea that this could 
be, or that I could fulfill her predictions. I 
have trusted in my spirit forces and prayed 
for guidance in all things, and they have 
led me into the light. Why should I not 
follow them and work for them all through 
my life? 

About this time I began to write poetry, 
the spirits had been impressing me for many 
years to do this. I wrote poem after poem 
that I did not even read, but tossed to the 
waste basket. If by any chance I was caught 
with a pen, the waste basket was searched, 
the rolled-up wads I had flung there were 
rescued and forthwith taken to a publisher. 
A few of them have appeared in some of my 



46 SPIRITUALISM 

books. Poetry was never wholly convincing 
to me. I could never see the sense, for 
instance, of twisting an idea to make " sing " 
rhyme with " fling," and have never found 
anything said in rhyme that could not have 
been expressed equally well, and certainly 
more directly, in simple prose. 

In reviewing my past life, I am aware that 
I have experienced many dark and dreary 
days. Dark? Yes, for I was in darkness 
and could see nothing else around me; no 
one seemed to understand me, I did not 
understand myself, so could not tell them of 
my dilemma — my great desire for a thing 
I could not name; but I held fast to my 
determination to continue my search as best 
I could. The fact that I had been deprived 
of an education did not lessen my resolve 
to make a man of myself. When in school 
if I had to " speak a piece," the ordeal was 
such that for very bashfulness I could not 
hold up my head or face my audience, but 
I recovered from the bashfulness. 

One day when in town with my father, 
when I was a boy, we passed a man on the 
street who was so intoxicated that it was 
impossible for him to keep on his feet; every 
time he went down he fell on his face and 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 47 

it became so bruised that it resembled a piece 
of beefsteak. My father said to me : " Now, 
Franklin, watch that man. That is the way 
you will act if you ever get drunk." I re- 
plied : " Father, I shall never get drunk." 
And I have kept my word. He said of the 
drunkard : " When the boy-that-was, became 
a man, some one treated him to a glass of 
beer; after a while he drank again, more 
and more, until now he has formed the 
habit and says he can not stop. You will 
no doubt hear men say if they had not taken 
that last glass they would never have 
been drunk. It is not the last glass, but 
the first glass that does the mischief. If 
you never take the first one, you are safe." 
As I have related, I had no opportunity 
to go to school when I was a boy, despite 
my great desire for an education; when I 
began to earn money I saved it for that 
purpose and actually started to school but 
in a very short time circumstances forced 
me to discontinue. I did not lose heart, 
though, and persisted in my determination 
to get an education, but every effort in this 
direction was thwarted in one way or an- 
other. I could not understand why the 
spirits would allow this, when they had 



48 SPIRITUALISM 

told me so many times that they were lead- 
ing me aright; nor could I understand how 
they could educate me — as they had so 
often assured me they would — unless I 
went to school, and I asked them why they 
did not want me to be educated. These 
spirits said that if I were studying, my mind 
would be on my books and not free to receive 
their impressions; and if I were in school 
I would be confined to one place, and so 
could not be led about to see their wonderful 
manifestations of the spirit and to do all the 
work they wanted me to do; that in leading 
me from place to place, as they were doing, 
they were showing me that spirits are every- 
where, and that I could see them and speak 
with them, thus proving the continuity of 
life. 

And thus, in following the spirits all my 
life as I have been impressed to do, I feel 
that whatever my education may be it is 
from them — in fact, that I have been edu- 
cated by them. That which I have received 
can not be bought at any price, in any school 
or place of learning in the world, for I have 
not been taught by mortals but by the spirit 
forces from the spirit world. 

I was born, as I now see it, to devote 



Sketch of Boyhood Days 49 

myself to transmitting to others what has 
been revealed to me by the spirit forces. My 
whole aim has been, and my enthusiasm is, 
for the individual. As I look back upon the 
past, I see myself carried along by my en- 
vironment and the spirit forces ever with me. 

I have had glimpses of spiritual truths, 
visions of the laws of life and of the beauties 
of virtue; and I want to disclose to all the 
world that which has been vouchsafed to me 
— that which I have seen and heard — and 
the one plane on which all the world meets 
today, is in reading. They who read are 
neither bond nor free, Jew nor Gentile, Greek 
nor barbarian : they are the college professor, 
the elevator boy, the " hired girl," the wife 
of the millionaire, the black, and the white. 
As Kipling puts it, " The General's lady and 
Judy O'Grady are Sisters under the skin." 

There is just one world where there is 
no class, no exclusiveness, or party, no " re- 
spectability " — nothing but just folks — 
where all must go sooner, or later — the 
spirit world. 

After being led over the country by the 
spirit forces, as I have briefly touched upon, 
if I had my life to live over again and the 
liberty of choice were mine, I can not see 



50 SPIRITUALISM 

that I could act differently. The one thing 
for which I have regret is, that I did not 
trust these forces more implicitly. On the 
whole, from the standpoint of adjustment, 
my life may be considered a successful one. 
I have found my place in the great spiritual 
field of work, and in finding it I have become 
the happiest man that I know. Why? Be- 
cause I am doing what all my life I have 
yearned to do, though so long ignorant of what 
it was; that is, to know myself (and to know 
one's self is to know all, the Infinite!) and 
to spread this knowledge abroad, beyond 
the confines of the narrow-mindedness of 
those who seek not and know not the light 
— this knowledge which is the result of many 
years of work. I have labored for, and have 
taught, the truths that are beyond the com- 
prehension of those who live only for the 
day. 

For, peace and joy are from within. This 
life is what we make it, so raise aloft the 
banner of truth and love! This is my gift; 
please take it. 



CHAPTER III 

MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE SPIRIT WORLD 

In December, 1893, while living on Middle- 
sex Street, Lowell, Massachusetts, I was 
rooming and boarding with a Spiritualist 
family. 

I told this family that for years I had been 
praying that I might leave my body and 
travel through the spirit world, and on my 
return to the body be able to remember what 
I had seen. I told them I felt sure that my 
prayer would be answered, for the spirits 
had promised me this and that a spirit would 
lead me, and that I believed in spirits; also, 
that if any person were to go to my room 
at any time of the day and should find me 
asleep, that person was not to waken me, 
but to go out, close the door and not allow 
any one to disturb me. 

On Saturday, a few nights after that, I 
retired as usual, and soon felt my spirit 
leaving my body and starting through space. 



52 SPIRITUALISM 

After visiting many places and seeing many 
spirit friends, Sunday morning I appeared 
at my home in Kansas. I knocked at the 
door, and my father opened it and spoke 
to me. I stepped inside while Father turned 
to speak to my mother. " Mother/' he said, 
" here is Franklin." My mother came to 
me, as she always came, to embrace me. I 
put my hands in front of me and began to 
walk backward. " Mother," I said, " do 
not touch me, I am not in my body. It is 
my spirit form that you see," and I dis- 
appeared from their sight. 

I knew the spirits that were travelling 
with me, leading me, and guiding me into 
different places in the spirit world. Though 
my experiences were new, at no time was 
I more deeply impressed than when the spirit 
beside me showed me people that he said 
were in Heaven and in Hell. Heaven and 
Hell were not at all what I was taught in 
church to believe they were; in fact, they 
were vastly different. 

The spirit of one man whom I saw in Hell 
aroused my interest particularly, and I 
inquired what he had done when living on 
the earth plane. When I was informed that 
he had been a wicked man, I asked : " Why 



Journey Through Spirit World 53 

do you call this Hell? I do not see any fire 
anywhere." 

The spirit replied : " Look at him ; ob- 
serve him closely." I did so. 

His spirit appeared very sad, lonely, and 
forsaken. I could see that he realized now 
that he had done wrong and that it was 
too late to make amends, therefore, he was 
suffering remorse, and remorse was Hell. 
There were spirits going to and fro around 
him, not one seemed to notice him: for they 
all knew that his life on earth had been 
given over to wrongdoing, and he knew that 
they knew this and that he was getting his 
reward for what he had sown. As they 
passed him by he would gaze at them wist- 
fully, but they turned not his way. He had 
no friends in the spirit world who could 
help him; other spirits he could see were 
happy together, but he was alone — and this 
loneliness was Hell. 

I was shown another spirit suffering in 
Hell, suffering because he had killed him- 
self. My spirit guide said if this man had 
not killed himself to escape suffering in the 
body, he would not have been in the condi- 
tion in which I saw him ; he might have paid 
by suffering the penalty of his wrongdoing 



54 SPIRITUALISM 

while on earth, and on entering the spirit 
world would have been free. Taking one's 
life simply because one becomes tired of it, 
does not end it all. Both of these spirits 
will continue to suffer in the spirit world 
until they have paid the penalty and pro- 
gressed out of the conditions which were 
theirs when they passed from the earth 
plane. 

And thus I found that Hell is not a fixed 
place, as is taught, but a condition that we 
make for ourselves while living in the body. 
When we do wrong we violate a law, and 
it is inevitable that we pay the penalty en- 
tailed; in paying it, we suffer, and that 
suffering is Hell, both here and in the spirit 
world. 

As we continued our journey, stopping 
here and there to see what spirits were 
doing, we met and talked with some spirits 
who had been in the spirit world for thous- 
ands and thousands of years and I asked 
one of them : " When a spirit enters the 
spirit world who shows it where to go or 
what to do?" He answered that in Heaven 
spirits go intuitively where they belong, and 
that no spirit — assuming that it so desired 
— could deprive another spirit of its place, 



Journey Through Spirit World 55 

its home, in Heaven, and that home is deter- 
mined by the life of that spirit while in 
the body; and, just as is the case with 
mortals, some spirits are happy and some 
are sad. 

When with these ancient spirits I asked 
my guide to take me up to Heaven, saying 
that I wanted to see God and His Throne, 
and Jesus. They looked at me with amaze- 
ment. " I have always wanted to know 
about these things," I insisted, " haven't I 
a right to know, and to go there? ¥/here is 
Heaven?" 

An ancient spirit answered : " You are 
in Heaven now. This is the only Heaven 
there is and God is right here. Heaven is 
all around the earth. When people are 
walking on the earth their feet are on the 
earth's surface, yet they are not in the earth 
but in Heaven, just as the spirits are in 
Heaven. As there are only two places — 
Heaven and earth — it follows that, if a 
person is not in the earth, he must be in 
Heaven, where spirits are. When the spirit 
eyes of a mortal have been opened to spirit- 
ual vision he sees spirits in our midst as 
readily, as constantly, as he looks upon his 
fellow man; they go about their work, each 



56 SPIRITUALISM 

one intent upon his own mission, meet and 
pass each other — it may be in the busy 
thoroughfare, a narrow alley, or on a spa- 
cious lawn, yet they are in Heaven." 

Then we came upon some spirits that were 
singing, laughing, playing, enjoying them- 
selves in various ways. As we stood watch- 
ing them, other spirits would come and go, 
and all seemed happy together, so radiant, 
so joyous. " This is Heaven also," said the 
spirit that was guiding me. On the earth 
plane these spirits had been honest and up- 
right in their dealings, they had practiced 
the golden rule of love, their lives had been 
pure, and they passed into the spirit world 
to get their reward, rejoicing, — it was Heav- 
en! 

And I saw that Heaven is not a fixed 
place, as according to orthodox teaching; 
that, too, is a condition that we create for 
ourselves while living in the body. If one 
does right while on earth he is happy, and 
that happiness is Heaven. 

There are all kinds of buildings in Heaven 
— the spirit world — made of spiritual ma- 
terial, and this material is just the same to 
the spirit workmen as are earthly materials 
to the mortals who erect houses here. Heav- 



Journey Through Spirit World 57 

en is like earth: there are all kinds of 
work, all kinds of tools, and all kinds of 
workmen, and all — , work, tools, and work- 
men, are of the spirit. 

There are hospitals there and places to 
care for the sick spirits when they arrive, 
and spirit doctors and nurses; messenger 
boys, people of all professions, each having 
his work to do among the spirits in Heaven. 

When a little babe dies it passes into 
Heaven; it was helpless here and had to be 
cared for, it will be helpless there and will 
be cared for; it will be watched over by a 
spirit nurse as lovingly and gently as by 
its own mother ; and as the little spirit grows 
it will be sent to school and educated, as 
are mortal children. When prepared, it 
will choose and carry on the work that it 
wants to do in Heaven. The infant spirit 
will grow into the proportions it would have 
attained as a mortal; the spirit nurse will 
have shown the child its earthly mother, and 
the spirit child will be with and impress the 
mother much of the time, if that is its 
mission. 

There are no drones in Heaven. Every 
spirit is doing something; the kind of work 
depends upon what the spirit loved best to 



58 SPIRITUALISM 

do when in the body. Heaven is a natural 
and just world; there you get what belongs 
to you, if you never got it on earth. If a 
person meets with an accident, in the body, 
or becomes a cripple, as soon as he enters 
Heaven he is no longer maimed. 

As we proceeded I observed that all spirits 
wore not the same raiment; their garments 
are of different colors, just as those of 
mortals are. There are no nude spirits in 
Heaven; their clothing is made of spiritual 
material, each spirit arrayed in the favorite 
color of its earth life. 

Then I said to the spirit: "You have 
shown me Heaven, but I have not seen God. 
Where is God?" 

The ancient spirit said: " Look at Him." 
(The reader must remember when we assert 
that we see a spirit, it means that we see 
the spiritual clothing taken on by that spirit; 
we see the form of the spirit, but the spirit 
itself is inside the clothing). " He is the 
life that is in us — that is in everything — 
and is the cause of existence, of being, in any 
form. He is the source. He fills the uni- 
verse, of which everything is a part." 

" Where is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 



Journey Through Spirit World 59 

the redeemer of the world?" was my next 
question. 

At this moment I beheld around me a mul- 
titude of spirits. The ancient spirit ad- 
dressed the multitude: " Have any of you 
ever seen or heard of Jesus Christ?" They 
answered no. Some said that while living 
on the earth plane they had been taught 
that, by believing that Jesus Christ was the 
Son of God who had been sent to the world 
as a mediator, man would be spared the 
penalty of his wrongdoing here and all suf- 
fering hereafter. But since coming into the 
spirit world, they affirmed, they had neither 
seen nor heard of a spirit who knew any- 
thing about the presence of Jesus Christ in 
the spirit world, although the ancient spirit 
said that spirits enter the spirit world and 
claim to be the spirit of this or that person 
who may have had a distinguished earthly 
career. He continued : " They try to impress 
us with the importance that was theirs in 
the material world, and if a spirit of this 
kind can impress a mortal with the belief 
that he has been a famous person, he will 
do so, and will take possession of that mor- 
tal." 



60 SPIRITUALISM 

In proof of this assertion, I will cite a case 
that came under my observation. 

I knew of a woman who claimed that " God 
Almighty " had control of her. She became 
so imbued with the idea that her mission 
was to impart this spiritual enlightenment 
to the world that, despite their great wealth 
and financial success, her husband sold his 
business and together they began to tour the 
country, going from town to town renting, 
and speaking in, large opera houses, the wife 
announcing that she was God Himself. In 
some instances she addressed large audi- 
ences, at other times very few people would 
be present. No admission was ever charged. 

They came to Chicago, and it chanced that 
they attended a meeting of a Spiritualist 
Society of which I was the President. I 
did not know them then. I gave the woman 
a spirit message, and described the spirit 
of a large man, with a long white waving 
beard, standing beside her, who said he was 
God Almighty, her guide and control. He 
was, in truth, the spirit of a man who went 
insane over religion, calling himself God 
Almighty, and who died in an insane asy- 
lum. His spirit so impressed this woman 
that she really believed that he was God. 



Journey Through Spirit World 61 

The spirit of this lady's mother gave the 
name and address of this man at that meet- 
ing, and we were able to verify all that 
she said of the man's earthly life. 

After my talks with the ancient spirits, 
I asked my guide to lead me to other coun- 
tries that I might see what the spirits were 
doing there. He replied that he could not 
speak in many languages and called upon 
an ancient spirit who understood many lan- 
guages to accompany me. With this ancient 
as guide I travelled from one country to 
another, tarrying here and there, talking 
with spirits of different nationalities, all 
claiming the one Heaven and the one God. 

I was out of my body thirty-six hours. 
Monday morning I awoke and ate breakfast 
as usual with the family. I had never felt 
so happy in my life; I remembered all that 
I had seen on my journey through the spirit 
world. I received a telegram from my father 
that morning, asking what was the matter. 
He stated how I had appeared at home, and 
what I had said — just as I have related it. 

Members of the family with which I was 
living said that, as I did not come to break- 
fast Sunday morning, some one went to my 
room and found me lying in bed as though 



62 SPIRITUALISM 

in a sound sleep. They remembered the 
request I had made of them, and so I was 
left alone and undisturbed. 

While in the spirit world I visited cities 
in which the spirits wanted me to work, 
when I went to those cities afterward I saw 
nothing new. In fact, I have never lived in a 
city in my life that I had not seen in spirit be- 
fore I went there; the spirit has even shown 
me the house where I must stop, so at dif- 
ferent times when I have gotten off a boat 
or a train I have had no difficulty in find- 
ing the spot that was to be my home during 
my stay in that town. All through my life 
I have been led in this direct way; yet, as 
I have said, there was a long period when I 
did not comprehend the significance of this 
guidance — I did not know that the voices 
I heard were spirit voices. 

When I obeyed them I was very happy; 
and the more I listened and followed, the 
more I heard them, until it seemed at last 
that I could not ask a question which the 
spirits did not answer. I sometimes thought 
they had control of me, regardless of my 
wishes, and I felt that it was my duty to 



Journey Through Spirit World 63 

do their will for me. I have listened and 
heeded them all my life, and have never been 
led astray by them. 



CHAPTER IV 

PROOFS OF SPIRIT RETURN 

My father said to me when I was a lad : 
" My boy, if you ever work for a man and 
he bids you to do thus-and-so, never ask 
him the why and wherefore of it; that is his 
business, yours is to obey." This advice has 
been of great value to me. 

On other pages I have referred to the 
presence of spirit forms and spirit voices 
with me since childhood, and all my life I 
have somehow felt that I was working for 
those higher forces from whom I received 
my orders and that my duty as a faithful 
workman, was, not to question my com- 
mander, but to hasten to do his bidding. I 
learned years ago that, if the spirits bade 
me do a thing, I must do it; that, in pausing 
to ask " why," I was losing valuable time 
and so might be too late to save the life of 
some one. 

Often and often I have either been im- 



Proof of Spirit Return 65 

pressed, or bidden, to go to a certain place 
or to do a certain thing; I did not ask why 
that particular thing must be done in that 
particular way, or what was its purpose 
anyway — for I will admit that oftentimes 
the command seemed a strange one — but I 
went ahead as I was directed to do and it 
always seemed that I was there just at the 
opportune moment; a minute later, a life 
would have gone out. I could cite many 
instances of this nature. I could never fully 
understand how it was that I felt it my 
duty to do as these spirits told me and how 
I always happened to prevent either a death 
or an injury. 

The same thing holds good in regard to 
my treatments. The moment I see a patient 
I tell him if my treatments will be beneficial 
to him : I proceed to treat him, improvement 
is soon apparent, and the next thing he is 
restored to health. On the other hand, if I 
can not help him I tell him so and do not 
treat him. The spirits that I see around 
every person who comes to me for relief 
tell me whether or not I can help that person. 
I listen to the spirits and act accordingly, 
and the outcome is exactly what the spirit 
said it would be. 



66 SPIRITUALISM 

When I was a boy a neighbor of ours 
began digging a well, I used to see him fre- 
quently when he was at work on it, for the 
process of obtaining water in that part of 
Kansas involved considerable time, and I 
always inquired how he was progressing 
with his task. Always when I put this simple 
question, the well would appear before me, 
I would be looking down into it and could 
see some one drawing the body of this man 
from its depths. I told my people that the 
man would get killed in his well, which 
proved true; he was overcome by gases. 

My parents started to his funeral late in 
the afternoon and I was left alone for the 
night. It was the first night of the full 
moon, and the light was brilliant; in front 
of me, unmistakable, and true to life, was 
the face of the man who had expired in the 
well, whose body was not yet in the grave. 
From that time whenever I see the full moon, 
I see this face before me. 

One very hot summer day in 1881, during 
a Reunion of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, held at Riverside Park, Wichita, 
Kansas, while in the street parade one of 
the Captains was overcome by heat. He was 
carried to their camping ground in the Park 



Proof of Spirit Return 67 

and a tent was erected for him under a large 
tree, as there was no shade near their tents. 

The night following was one of beautiful 
moonlight, no cloud to be seen in the sky. 
At twelve o'clock one of the men was awak- 
ened from sleep; the spirit of a dead com- 
rade, who he recognized, stood before him 
and said : " Go and bring the Captain from 
the tent under the tree and put him in his 
own tent." 

The man, with the assistance of one from 
another tent, carried the Captain, in spite 
of his resistance, to his own tent, as directed. 
The night was still cloudless but at four 
o'clock a terrific thunder shower came up, 
and lightning struck the tree under which 
the Captain had been sleeping. A big limb 
was torn from the tree, struck the tent, went 
through it, and buried the cot and mattress 
on which the Captain had been lying, three 
feet in the ground. 

The roaring of the storm and the noise 
of the crashing limb roused everybody in 
the camp. There was a great tumult — men 
half dressed rushed from their tents in the 
pouring rain, to the tree where they supposed 
the Captain lay, not knowing that he had 



68 SPIRITUALISM 

been removed four hours before the storm 
broke upon them. 

I was at the camp the next morning ; there 
the limb lay, just as it had fallen, with the 
cot and mattress still buried in the ground. 
I talked with the Captain and with the two 
men who had carried him from under the 
tree at Midnight. None of these men were 
Spiritualists. The man to whom the spirit 
appeared said that he had known his friend 
and comrade, while living, for a number of 
years and knew him to be a truthful man. 
He felt it was his duty to do whatever the 
spirit of his friend wanted him to do, as they 
both had been good friends to the Captain. 

I was in and out of Kansas City, Missouri, 
several times during the eighties, and at one 
time was around the Union Depot much of 
my spare time. A spirit voice said to me 
one morning: " Go to St. Louis.'' I did so, 
and the morning after my arrival in that 
city, I read in the paper that the high wall 
and embankment at the Kansas City depot 
had given way and had covered up part of 
the depot. 

Again I was in Kansas City, and wanted 
to take a certain train for St. Louis, when 
a spirit voice said: " Take, instead, the first 



Proof of Spirit Return 69 

train," which I did. The papers announced 
the next day, that the train I had intended 
to take was held up and all the passengers 
were robbed. 

Another time when in Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, I was in a hurry to reach Chicago, 
and was on the point of taking the first train 
leaving for that city, when I heard a spirit 
voice saying: "Do not take that train." 
Within an hour after leaving the depot this 
train was going around a sharp curve, when 
the engine and the entire train left the track 
and rolled down an embankment. 

On another occasion I was in St. Louis, 
Missouri, intending to take a certain train 
over a road, with which I was not familiar, 
to Kansas City, Missouri. The spirit said: 
" Do not go that way." I did not, but took 
another train, arriving in Kansas City ahead 
of the train that I wanted to take. While 
I waited for a train to Wichita, Kansas, pas- 
sengers were brought into the depot from a 
wrecked train — the train that I had in- 
tended to take at St. Louis ! 

In 1893 while waiting for a train in the 
North station, Boston, Massachusetts, I was 
talking with a man whom I chanced to meet 
there. In the course of conversation I men- 



70 SPIRITUALISM 

tioned Spiritualism. He said he was not a 
Spiritualist; in fact, he did not know any- 
thing about it, but he would like to tell me 
his experience, which was as follows: 

" Two or three years ago my niece and I 
went aboard a sleeper here in the North 
station, and were waiting for the train to 
leave for Canada. I saw and heard a spirit 
say : ' You and your niece get out of this 
car; go and take a walk/ which we did at 
once, intending to return in a few minutes, 
but when we got back the train had left. 
We were obliged to stay over until the next 
day. I saw in the morning paper that the 
train, whose sleeper we had entered, met 
with a terrible accident and every person 
in that sleeping car was killed. Neither my 
niece nor I knew whose spirit had warned 
us, but we obeyed the voice we heard, and 
our lives were saved." 

In November, 1893, I was living on Mid- 
dlesex Street, Lowell, Massachusetts. I oc- 
cupied a room on the second floor; not a 
ray of light could shine into it from the 
street. 

One night I was in bed sound asleep, lying 
on my back I remember, when my youngest 
sister, who had passed into the spirit world 



Proof of Spirit Return 71 

two years before, appeared at my bedside; 
it was about twelve o'clock. Placing one 
hand on my forehead and the other on my 
chest, she awoke me, saying : " Franklin, 
wake up; this is Anna." I got up and sat on 
the edge of the bed. 

The room was filled with a white and 
luminous light; we sat and talked together. 
I questioned her about Heaven (the spirit 
world). She said: "If you, mortals, could 
only realize that you are all in Heaven today, 
what a blessing all would enjoy! When 
you are developed, and your spirit eyes are 
opened — that is, when you understand — 
you will be able to see spirits and will know 
then that you are in Heaven." 

She also told me of a great many happen- 
ings around home, things that had occurred 
since I left and about which I knew nothing 
at the time. While we were thus talking 
there came to us the spirit of an old gentle- 
man whom I did not know to be dead. He 
told me where, when, and how he had passed 
into the spirit world, all of which I after- 
ward found to be true. 

My sister's spirit was with me at that 
time for an hour. She looked as natural, and 
spoke as naturally as when in the flesh. 



72 SPIRITUALISM 

Since then I can see her spirit with me much 
of the time; she has warned me of danger, 
and has thus saved my life. 

I was living in New York City in 1895. 
I took the elevated train at 66th Street ele- 
vated station, one day, intending to get off 
at 14th Street station. I was reading a 
paper and not paying any attention to the 
stations as we passed them, but heard a 
voice saying to me: " Get off." I got off, 
and when on the street saw that, instead 
of its being the 14th Street Station — as 
I supposed — it was the 23rd Street. I 
started to walk down 6th Avenue to 14th 
Street, and was suddenly turned around; 
the next thing I knew I was standing before 
a large apartment house on 24th Street and 
was inquiring of the landlady if Mrs. M. 
(whom I knew) was at home. Being in- 
formed that she was, I went to Mrs. M.'s 
apartment and, without either ringing the 
door bell, or rapping, I opened the door and 
walked in. In front of a large mirror stood 
Mrs. M. with a drawn revolver, taking aim, 
with the intention of killing herself; she 
had had so much trouble financially it seemed 
to her that she could not bear it any longer. 
My sudden entrance frightened her so that 



Proof of Spirit Return 73 

she dropped the weapon without shooting 
herself. She has thanked me a number of 
times since for saving her life. 

I was walking along Broadway, New York, 
between 67th and 68th Streets and suddenly 
saw the spirit of a mother beside her son, 
who was a few feet ahead of me and going 
in the same direction. She was trying very 
hard to impress him not to do what he was 
intending to do that day. Her spirit came 
to me and pleaded with me to tell her son 
what she had failed to make him understand. 

I went forward as she desired me to do. 
" My young man," I said, putting my hand 
on his arm, " do not carry out your intentions 
for this day. The spirit of your dear mother 
is here now — this moment — and she has 
asked me to beg you most earnestly not to 
do the thing you intend to do today." 

He threw up his hands, and exclaimed: 
" My God ! I am the most miserable man in 
New York City today." 

" I am so sorry," I replied. " I have only 
given you what the spirit of your mother 
urged me to say to you." 

He asked me who I was; I gave him one 
of my cards and walked on. 

A few days after this he came into my 



74 SPIRITUALISM 

office, weeping, and looking as though he 
had not slept for a week, a wretched and 
pitiable object. 

He told me his story : he had lost a fortune 
betting on race horses. The morning I spoke 
to him on the street he was on his way to 
the race track to bet on certain horses; his 
spirit mother knew of his intentions, and 
knew that he would lose. But he did not 
heed her warning, staked all his money, and 
lost. He came to me, not only remorseful 
that he had disregarded the words of his 
spirit mother who would have saved him, 
but penniless as well. 

One day when in my office on Sixth Avenue, 
New York City, I was called by telephone to 
a number on that street to give a treatment. 
At once the spirit said to me : " We do not 
want you to go to that house to give that 
treatment, and if you go you will be sorry 
for it and will come back." 

Still I felt it was my duty to go, and I 
started forth. When I got to the place and 
looked for the street number I could not, 
for the life of me, see it. After walking by 
the house several times, a policeman whom 
I knew came along and I gave him the 
number I was seeking, but could not find. 



Proof of Spirit Return 75 

" Why, Doctor," he exclaimed, " It is right 
here in front of you." 

I thanked him and entered the house. As 
I went up the stairs I heard very loud and 
boisterous talking; when in front of the 
apartment from which I had received the 
telephone message, I paused to listen. From 
those rooms issued such language that I 
decided to go no farther, and returned to my 
office. 

If the spirit had not warned me, I would 
not have stopped before the door even after 
hearing the loud talking on the stairs, but 
would have walked in — upon what? 

I was reading, one morning, in the New 
York City papers an account of the death of 
a Hindoo philosopher whom I had known 
very well and with whom I had held many 
long talks. He had wanted me to go to 
India and take a course in the Hindoo phil- 
osophy, but I could not see my way clear to 
go at the time. 

After his death I could see his spirit 
around me all the time urging me to go to 
India ; all that I could see about me was some 
place, or some scenery in India, and it seemed 
there were hundreds of Hindoo spirits around 
me urging me to go to their country. I soon 



76 SPIRITUALISM 

realized that I would either have to go to 
India, or not allow these spirits to stay- 
about me — I would not have any peace of 
mind until I did one or the other — so I 
wrote my parents that I was going to India. 
They begged me so earnestly not to go that 
I gave up the idea. This Hindoo spirit made 
me all kinds of promises if I would only go 
to India — he would guide me aright — but 
I would not go and would not allow him to 
impress me. 

The spirit of an Indian chief came to me 
and wanted me to follow his lead, and the 
first thing I knew I wanted to go into the 
woods and mountains and live where he had 
lived, but I found this would not do, so I 
called on the spirits of persons whom I had 
known to impress and guide me into the 
right; and these spirits are with me, impress- 
ing me now. 

During one of my sojourns in New York 
I caught a severe cold and developed an 
incessant cough. I saw plainly that the phy- 
sician whom I had called in was worried 
over my condition, for I did not improve; the 
more of his remedies I took, the more I 
coughed. He finally decided upon a con- 
sultation with two other doctors, and their 



Proof op Spirit Return 77 

countenances were grave. I requested them 
to be frank with me and tell me my true 
condition, that it would not in the least 
frighten me. 

Whereupon they announced that I had 
quick consumption and would not live two 
weeks, and advised me to go to my people, 
or my home, if I had one. I paid them and 
thanked them for their advice. I knew of 
course that I had a cold, a severe one, and 
a cough that refused to budge. I also knew 
that, since the doctors could not rid me of 
my ills, in lieu of a better name, they called 
my disease consumption. All through my 
illness my spirit friends told me that I would 
not be helped by the doctors' medicine and 
if I would discard it, they would tell me of 
something that would cure my coughing with 
the second dose. After the verdict of the 
doctors, I was willing to listen to these 
spirits, and they told me to get a bottle of 
White Pine Cough Syrup. 

I did not tarry for details and hastened to 
a drugstore. When there the druggist told 
me there were three kinds of White Pine 
Cough Syrup, and asked which kind I 
wanted. I did not know, and there was 
so much noise in the store that I could not 



78 SPIRITUALISM 

hear what the spirit was saying to me; but 
I took a bottle of each kind, carried them 
home and took the three bottles according 
to directions, and — continued to cough. 

The morning of the last dose, calling the 
spirit by name (I had known him in the 
flesh), I reminded him of his words to me 
concerning the efficacy of White Pine Cough 
Syrup, and he assured me again that it would 
cure me if I got the right kind. 

" But where is it?" I questioned. 

" Follow me." 

I went into the street with that spirit and 
followed him several blocks, and finally into 
a drugstore. I had brought with me the 
names of the three bottles of syrup I had 
consumed, as I did not intend to repeat my 
folly in this respect. It was an unnecessary 
precaution, for I saw the hand of the Spirit 
resting on a bottle of White Pine Cough 
Syrup, the only one of its kind in the store. 
I called for that bottle, paid for it, tore off 
the wrapper, opened it, and swallowed what 
I supposed was a dose; when I got home, in 
about an hour, I took the second. That was 
the end of my persistent, incurable cough; 
likewise the end of the " quick consumption " 
charge. 



Proof of Spirit Return 79 

How often the spirits would help us! Yet 
because we do not understand them, or how 
to call on them for aid; and again if we do 
not receive the help that we think we ought, 
we are ready to condemn all spirits, when 
in reality the fault is with us. 

In the latter part of the nineties I was 
living in New York City. I had a call, one 
winter, to Vermont to treat an elderly lady 
who had had dropsy for a great many years. 

On my arrival at the lady's house I went 
into the room where the family — her son, 
daughter, and brother — were sitting. Her 
bedroom adjoined the dining room, and I 
went into the latter room but did not enter 
the former. I returned to the family and 
told what I had seen: that in the door of 
the lady's bedroom stood a spirit with a 
drawn sword, and that my interpretation of 
it was death. I told them that I could not 
cure her but that I could relieve her of all 
pain, and that she would live three weeks. 
She lived three weeks to the hour and never 
suffered any pain after the first treatment 
I gave her, and was conscious to the last 
moment. 

She was a firm believer in Spiritualism, 
and was a medium. The morning she passed 



80 SPIRITUALISM 

out she called her family to her bedside and 
said she was going to her home in the spirit 
world. She mentioned the names of the 
spirits she saw about her bedside — her 
father, mother, husband, her children, and 
many friends who had passed out. She 
spoke to each member of her family by 
name, shook hands with each one, said good- 
by to them, folded her hands on her breast, 
closed her eyes, and passed out of life. 

I saw her spirit, like a mist, rise from her 
body and take form at her bedside; it looked 
down on the sick and wrecked castle in which 
it had lived and suffered so long. No tongue 
can tell, nor pen picture the beautiful trans- 
formation; nor the rejoicing among the 
many relatives and friends who were wait- 
ing around her bedside to welcome her, a 
newborn spirit, into the spirit world. It is 
this way: the little babe is welcomed by 
relatives and friends when it is born into this 
world, and there is great rejoicing among 
these mortal friends. Just so, when there 
is a death in this world and friends of the 
deceased are mourning, there is a birth into 
the spirit world and the friends there are 
rejoicing over it and welcoming the spirit 
just born into the spirit world. 



Proof of Spirit Return 81 

The brother, son, some friends of this lady, 
and I were sitting in the room with her body. 
I was watching her spirit ; it said to me 
" Tell Etta (her daughter) that the clothing 
she and the others are talking about, and 
that I want to be buried in, is in the lower 
drawer of my bureau in this room." I told 
Etta what the spirit of her mother had said. 
She came into her mother's room, not know- 
ing w r here the clothing had been placed, 
opened the drawer as directed, and found 
the garments just where her spirit mother 
had told me they were. None of us who 
were sitting together in the room with the 
body, could hear or could know what Etta 
and the people in the room with her were 
talking about. 

I watched the spirit go in and out of the 
room with other spirits several times — they 
were all very happy. I have seen her spirit 
more than once since and have received com- 
munications from it. 

While I was at this place treating this lady 
I walked two and one half miles to the Post- 
office every night for my mail, and would 
pass a house by the roadside in front of 
which was a row of maple trees. On my 
return from the office, just before I reached 



82 SPIRITUALISM 

these trees, the spirit of a man would appear 
in front of me and walk backward, facing 
me; he would walk right into the first tree 
and disappear. I always saw him at the same 
end of the row of trees. Like a great many 
other things I have seen spirits do, I could 
not understand it. I was not in the least 
afraid, because I have seen so many of them. 

I told the family with whom I was staying 
of this incident, and gave a description of 
the spirit, which they recognized as that of 
a man who had hung himself to that tree 
about five years before, and whose family 
still lived in that house with the row of 
maple trees in front of it. All that this 
man knew on earth was his home, and all 
that his spirit knows is this home and the 
tree; his spirit will remain in that condition 
until he has progressed out and has been 
shown the light. 

At another time I was in Vermont giving 
treatments, and some wealthy people of the 
community asked me to treat a man who 
was very ill and very poor, offering to pay 
me themselves. 

I had never seen this man, but from what 
had been told me of him, I knew that if I 
ever met him I would know him. On a 



Proof of Spirit Return 83 

Monday morning I met him on the street. 
I did not speak to him but looked at him 
very closely. I saw certain spirits about 
him and knew that he was beyond help, 
and that I would not treat him. 

When the people who had asked me to 
treat him came to take me to him that morn- 
ing, I said to them : " He will not live a 
week." They were vexed with me because 
I refused to go, but I had seen death all 
around him; also the spirits with me had 
said : " Do not treat him." 

He was found dead in his room the fol- 
lowing Wednesday morning. 

Again I was stopping in a town of Ver- 
mont for a few months. On my way — 
which was through one of the principal 
streets of the town — to treat a patient, 
I often passed a little girl between two and 
three years of age, playing on the street in 
front of her house. One evening as I neared 
this house I saw ahead of me an automobile 
coming at full speed. I ran forward, and 
picked up the child, who was in front of the 
car, just in time to save her life. The mother 
saw the danger, and saw what I had done, 
yet she uttered not a word of gratitude that 
her child had been snatched from death. 



84 SPIRITUALISM 

While we were talking the little girl re- 
turned to the street and resumed her play. 
I told the mother that her child would get 
killed, but she did not believe me, of course. 
The reason I was so sure of this, was, that 
I could see around the child both water and 
an automobile. I did not know at the time 
that there was a brook at the back of her 
house where she often played, but I knew 
that what I had seen meant that she would 
either be drowned or killed by an automobile. 

Three weeks after my talk with the 
mother, her little girl fell into the brook 
and was drowned. 

In 1908 I was living in Chicago. On a 
certain day I was on the South side of the 
City near the railroad tracks. The spirit 
said to me: " Walk down the track." As 
there were several tracks side by side, I did 
not know which one to take; trains were 
coming in and going out every few minutes 
and it was dangerous for me to walk there, 
and I knew I had no business to do so. 

But as I had listened to the spirit voices 
so often, I had learned that whenever I 
obeyed, good had accrued. So I listened, 
and I followed the spirit down the track 
indicated. I had gone but a short distance 



Proof of Spirit Return 85 

when I spied a broken rail, which I knew 
meant danger. Behind me I could see a 
passenger train coming at full speed and I 
began immediately to signal, knowing only 
too well what would happen if I failed to stop 
that onrushing train. I had been with rail- 
road men enough to know how to signal a 
train. There was no time to call for help 
and as there was only one thing to do, I 
did it. I waved my arms in front of me 
for all I was worth, and it came to a stand- 
still a few feet from where I stood. The 
engineer and conductor came forward and 
saw that my flagging had averted a disaster 
to the fastest passenger train on that road — 
that, as by a miracle, they had escaped a 
wreck. They thanked me, and offered to 
repay me from their own pockets for my 
time, but I refused their money and did not 
give my name and address, though they 
insisted upon having both. 

I never could understand how it was that 
I happened to be on the South side of the 
city that morning and why I was led to that 
particular track at the right moment to 
save the lives of the passengers on that 
train. 

My home was in Chicago in 1907. Some 



86 SPIRITUALISM 

time that year I received a request, by tele- 
phone, from a lady to come and give her a 
spiritual reading " right away." On my 
arrival at her house she plunged into a reci- 
tal of her husband's faults, which, according 
to her reckoning, were many — that he was 
a drunkard, stayed out late at night, neg- 
lected his home, etc. 

I interrupted the stream of words. I said 
to her: "You sent for me to give you a 
reading. You have told me quite enough 
about your husband. You know that I do 
not know anything about either of you, but 
I do see and know that you are enough to 
drive any man to drink or insanity. 

My words were as a bolt from a clear 
sky, she stared at me in wonder. I con- 
tinued : 

" It is now eleven o'clock. Why have you 
not finished your morning's work? Go from 
room to room and you will find that nothing 
is in the right place, yet you call yourself 
a wife and housekeeper, and wonder why 
your husband stays out late at night. He 
is a hard working man. Now tonight when 
he comes home after a long day's work have 
the hot water, soap, and fresh towels ready 
for him and a light in the bathroom ; supper 



Proof of Spirit Return 87 

on the table; and fire in the front room, 
the evening paper at hand. When he has 
finished his meal, with that cozy front room 
waiting for him, he will have no desire to 
go in search of anything more agreeable, no 
desire to do any of the shameful things of 
which you accuse him, and of which you 
have no proof. Then, tomorrow get your 
house in order, have it tidy and clean 
throughout, so that your husband will be 
proud of you when he sees it; fill it with 
cheer and light, and when he comes home 
give him a warm greeting. The next night 
have things the same way, and be waiting 
at the door with a kiss for him; love him 
more and more each day, and in two weeks 
report to me your progress in reforming that 
mean husband of yours." 

A week later I happened to be walking 
along West 63rd Street and met this man 
and his wife face to face; their arms were 
intertwined, their faces aglow, they might 
easily have been taken for lovers. She 
stopped me, introduced her husband, and I 
went home with them at their urgent invita- 
tion. 

That visit was enough; no need for a 
report at the end of two weeks, for the 



88 SPIRITUALISM 

change was obvious, and words could not 
have made it more effective. I recalled the 
cold and cheerless apartment to which I had 
been summoned less than ten days before, 
the disorderly kitchen with its lack of fire 
and its sink of piled up dishes, unwashed; 
the dinner hour at hand and no preparation 
for it. Was this a home? I have another 
name for it. Is it any wonder that the man 
sought comfort elsewhere? Across the street 
warmth and light beckoned, and it was easy 
to answer their lure; once in the saloon, the 
next step came still more readily, and he 
lingered. Very soon the wife " knew " that 
her husband no longer loved her, yet made 
no effort to regain his love. But, happily 
for both, before the home was wrecked, her 
eyes were opened and happiness again took 
up its abode with them. 

I do not like to see anybody try to force 
his way of thinking or his manner of living 
upon any one: each individual should do 
his own thinking and accord to every other 
person the same privilege. Since no one is 
perfect, and infallibility does not exist, why 
criticize another, when to other eyes our 
faults may loom greater than do those with 



Proof of Spirit Return 89 

whom we have found fault? Why not get 
busy in correcting our own shortcomings? 

I was traversing one of the most populous 
streets of Chicago; a spirit beside me, point- 
ing to one particular house apparently pos- 
sessing no distinguishing feature from many 
others in that row, and on the opposite side 
of the street from me, said: "Go into that 
house and tell the lady there, that she has 
rheumatism and must do something for it 
at once, or it will be fatal." 

I mounted the front steps, rang the door 
bell, and it was answered by an elderly lady, 
whose name was Mrs. M. I excused myself 
for what seemed an unwarranted intrusion, 
and told her that I had been so strongly im- 
pressed to do so that I could not go against 
the impression. I described to her the spirit 
that had urged me to go to her, and she 
said it was the spirit of her mother, who had 
died in this same house some years before 
of rheumatism of the heart. I delivered 
the message to Mrs. M., but she laughed, and 
ridiculed it. 

About ten days after this I read in a 
Chicago paper that Mrs. M. had died that 
morning from rheumatism of the heart. 

At another time I was living in a New 



90 SPIRITUALISM 

Jersey town, and walked every night to an- 
other town two miles distant. It was not 
my custom to carry a gun, but as I was 
starting one night, a spirit said : " Take 
your gun with you tonight." One of the 
men in the house had borrowed my revolver 
and I went to his room to get it; not finding 
him at home, I concluded to go without the 
weapon, and started out again. The same 
spirit spoke again, and more emphatically: 
" Get your gun." 

Finally I got it, and the weather being 
cold, put it in an outside pocket of my over- 
coat. I had to cross a drawbridge on which 
several people had recently been sandbagged, 
robbed and thrown into the water below. 

There were dim lights on the sides of the 
bridge, which was wide enough for vehicles 
to pass each other, but no sidewalk on either 
side. As I approached the bridge I observed 
a man standing at the opposite end, who 
began walking towards me as I started 
across. I moved to the other side of the 
bridge, he followed me; I recrossed to the 
first side, and he did the same things. We 
were nearing each other, and I knew, for 
the spirit had told me, that he would try 
to sandbag and rob me. All the time my 



Proof of Spirit Return 91 

hand held the revolver in my pocket. I 
could see his hands, and he had a sandbag 
in one hand. When within fifteen feet of 
me, he seemed about to spring towards me. 
Instantly my hand was out of my pocket, 
and I was pointing the revolver straight at 
him and commanding him to turn back at 
once. I surprised him so, and he turned so 
quickly, that he dropped the sandbag and 
fled as if pursued by the furies. How he 
did run ! 

I picked up the bag and walked on. At 
the end of the bridge I met a policeman and 
inquired of him if he had seen a man pass- 
ing. He said a man had just gone by him, 
running so fast that a race horse could not 
have caught him. I gave a description of 
the man on the bridge, surrendered the sand 
bag, showed him my revolver, and told him 
my story. 

Some years ago I was in Denver, Colorado, 
and out walking, when a spirit bade me go 
to a particular railroad track. I did so, and 
on rounding a sharp curve of the track as 
I walked along, heard the whistle of a train 
a short distance before me. Simultaneously 
with the sound of the whistle I looked ahead, 
and saw an object lying across one of the 



92 SPIRITUALISM 

rails, which I at once recognized as the body 
of a man. I ran forward and dragged him 
from the tracks before the train came rush- 
ing past. 

On another occasion I was in a city in 
Indiana, and happened to be walking near 
a place where a railroad track crossed a 
wagon road. A gang of railroad men were 
at work there and I stopped to watch them 
for a moment, and saw a passenger train 
coming. The foreman shouted to the men 
to clear the tracks instantly. Every man, 
except one, moved out of the way of the 
train, and he stepped into the center of the 
track, stood with his back to the oncoming 
train and deliberately waited for it to pass 
over him. All the men shouted to him, but 
to no purpose. I had noticed his actions at 
first and knew what he intended to do. I 
made a quick lunge toward him, knocked 
him clear of the track and went off with 
him, both of us falling on the ground as 
the train whizzed by us. I had risked my 
life to save that of this stranger; neither 
of us was hurt. 

I discovered later that the man had had 
trouble with some member of his family, and 
had told some of his fellow workmen that 



Proof of Spirit Return 93 

he intended to kill himself that day. Before 
he took his position on the track he removed 
his coat and laid it on a bank where the 
foreman got it, and found a letter to be 
handed to his wife after his death. 

The foreman discharged him, and thanked 
me for the rescue. It was another instance 
of obeying the spirits. 

I was in a prosperous Western City some 
years ago. A travelling salesman for a large 
automobile supply house came to see me 
one evening for a spiritual reading. He 
said that he had read some of my newspaper 
articles, and had heard so much about me 
that he had determined if he were ever in 
the city with me, he would get me to read 
for him. 

It had been a very busy day for him, going 
from garage to garage selling supplies, be- 
fore he came to me at its close, and I said 
to him : " Brother, I can not read for you 
this evening. If I were to give you what 
I see around you, I would be reading for 
automobile thieves. I have some knowledge 
of physiognomy, and when I look into your 
face I know that you are no thief. I know, 
too, — but you do not know it — that you 
have been among automobile thieves today 



94 SPIRITUALISM 

and have brought their condition in here 
with you. If you will come to me in the 
morning I will give you a spiritual reading. 

Ke came the next morning, bringing two 
evening and two morning papers, and I gave 
him a reading which was satisfactory. When 
I had finished, he showed me in the four 
papers the picture of a garage at which he 
had sold a large order for supplies the day 
before, coming directly from there to me. 
Within an hour from his departure the police 
arrived and arrested every man in the build- 
ing, and it was proven to be the largest 
establishment of automobile thieves in that 
part of the country. He readily understood 
now how it was that I saw such conditions 
around him, and why I could not read for 
him that evening. 

I told him that thereafter when he desired 
a spiritual reading he should go to the reader 
directly from his room, when he would know 
the conditions that he would take with him; 
that a medium can only give him the con- 
ditions and describe the spirits that he had 
attracted to him; that no medium can call 
up a spirit to talk to any one; that the con- 
ditions and the spirits that we have attracted, 
or that may have been attracted to us, may 



Proof of Spirit Return 95 

remain with us for months — whether we 
want them or not — unless we drive them 
away, and therefore it behooves us to have 
our spirit eyes opened in order to attract 
the good to us and to dispel the bad. 

I had been giving treatments so contin- 
uously, and listened to groans and rehearsals 
of ills so long — each individual sure that 
his, or her, case had no parallel and that no 
human being had ever suffered so much — 
that I wanted a change in my work. I had 
been in Chicago for some time, and every 
year I would say to myself that I would not 
stay in that cold city another winter, but 
I stayed on. 

In 1908 I saw an opportunity to get a 
good position in Panama from the United 
States government, so I made application 
and was accepted. 

As long as I live I shall remember the 
morning that I accepted that position, for as 
soon as I had done so, I knew that my spirit 
friends did not want me to go to Panama 
and it seemed as though they had all de- 
serted me. Then and there I realized how 
weak I was without the aid given me con- 
tinually by the spirits; but as I had made 
up my mind to go, had given my word, and 



96 SPIRITUALISM 

had signed for the position, there was noth- 
ing for me but to leave the next day for 
New York, as agreed upon, and to sail from 
there the following day. 

As I had lived in New York City, I knew 
well where the pier was but somehow I 
seemed unable to locate it the morning I was 
to sail. However, I managed finally to find 
it, w r ent aboard the ship and was assigned 
a state room, with another man. 

I told this man that we would pass through 
an awful storm at sea, and I wished that 
I did not have to take that voyage. He did 
not agree with me, and said as there had 
been a storm the preceding week, there 
w T ould not be another so soon; that he had 
travelled through the tropics, and he knew 
that one storm never followed another so 
quickly. 

I did not believe him, for the Spirit had 
told me there would be a terrible hurricane; 
that people on the ship would be killed; that 
the vessel would be carried many miles out 
of its course, but would make port, and that 
I would land safely ; all of which proved true. 

When the hurricane struck us the first 
big wave took off one smoke stack, washed 
overboard or smashed every life saving boat 



Proof of Spirit Return 97 

aboard the ship, and tore open the hatchways 
and port holes. The cargo shifted; four of 
the crew were killed; there was not a dry 
state room on the vessel; the condenser 
broke and we had no fresh water to drink, 
nor anything to eat for three days. I was 
the only one of two hundred passengers, 
besides a large crew of men, that did not 
receive an injury of some kind. The Captain 
of the ship said that we were engulfed in 
one big wave for ten minutes and that he 
never expected to see the ship rise again, 
that it was the worst storm he had ever 
experienced during his forty years at sea. 

We landed at Christobal four days late. 
I was assigned to Corrazel, four miles from 
Panama City. I had been there two months 
when, one morning, I saw myself as a corpse ; 
whichever way I turned I could see this. A 
few days later I could see myself in a coffin 
that followed me wherever I went. The 
Spirits told me that if I did not leave Pan- 
ama, I would die there and be taken away 
in a coffin. 

I took their advice, and left for the States. 

I have often seen, standing beside graves, 
the spirit forms of bodies that were in the 
graves, and I could not understand why the 



98 SPIRITUALISM 

spirit was there as though waiting for some 
one. I knew that the person — to take a 
specific instance — had led a good life and 
was a member of the church; and had heard 
the minister say that if one believed in Jesus 
Christ and was baptized and joined the 
church (the minister's church), after the 
body had lain in the grave three days after 
death as had the body of Jesus Christ before 
the ascent of his spirit to Heaven, the spirit 
of the dead person would rise from the grave 
and find waiting for it another spirit to take 
it to Heaven. When I knew that many a 
three days had passed, I could still see the 
same spirit waiting around its grave. Evi- 
dently there was a misunderstanding some- 
where. 

Like others of his congregation, I believed 
that what the minister said was true; but 
when I saw the action of different spirits 
in the graveyards where their bodies had 
been buried, I knew the ministers must be 
wrong — they were either misrepresenting 
the truth, or did not know what they were 
talking about. I did not want to doubt the 
ministers, or deny the truth of their asser- 
tions, so I would not pass the graveyards 
and could thus avoid seeing the waiting 



Proof of Spirit Return 99 

spirits. Often I have spoken to such spirits, 
telling them they were out of the body and 
to go on; they would appear both pleased 
and amazed. Oh, that the spirit eyes of 
all were opened! They would see, not only 
in graveyards but in many other places, the 
wrong done by false teaching. 

The following article is inserted here, from 
the periodical Science of Life, Hamburgh, 
N. Y., August, 1917, which periodical copied 
it from the Boston Post: — 

MESSAGES FROM DEAD SOLDIERS 
RECEIVED IN BOSTON 

Messages from the dead — soldier heroes 
in the war — are claimed to have been re- 
ceived in Boston! 

" I was killed on the battle field in France," 
began a message to Mrs. M. of Tremont St. 

" Nobody in spirit land can say when this 
awful war will end," said another to F. H. 
W., also of Tremont Street. 

That scores of these men who have passed 
from earth are constantly manifesting them- 
selves to friends and relatives here is de- 
clared by Franklin A. Thomas, Doctor of 
Spiritual Science. 

What is equally surprising, Dr. Thomas 
adds that most of the messages have arrived 



100 SPIRITUALISM 

ahead of letters from Europe conveying what 
he asserts is exactly the same information. 

" Rather strange? Why, there is nothing 
strange about it," he said to a Sunday Post 
reporter when seen at his residence on Tre- 
mont Street. " We get countless messages 
from those who have passed on and it is 
only to be expected that we should receive 
a great many from war victims," he said 
with emphasis. 

It is interesting to note that London re- 
cently has shown a most remarkable interest 
in the matter of possible communication be- 
tween the living and the dead. Now that 
Europe has become one vast graveyard and 
the bottom of the ocean is strewn with so 
many sunken ships and dead bodies " whales 
can hardly find room to pass," the longing 
among the living to talk with their departed 
relatives has become greatly intensified. 

Dr. Thomas was asked for the particulars 
contained in some of his messages. 

" Brother," he began, " when I was talk- 
ing with Mrs. M. I noticed a spirit standing 
beside her. I described the spirit and then 
gave the name. The spirit said : 

" ' I am a cousin of Mrs. M. Before 
going to war and coming to spirit land I 



Proof of Spirit Return 101 

lived with my father, who was chief of police 
of Belfast, Ireland. My brother, William, 
worked on a lake steamer at Detroit, Michi- 
gan. 

" ' I was killed on the battle field in France 
a little time ago. I am very weak and cannot 
manifest myself as I would like to. I longed 
to come and visit you while I was on earth, 
but now that I cannot I am manifesting my- 
self to you in spirit. 

" ' I was in a charge on the German 
trenches when I was killed. We were mowed 
down as fast as we left the trenches. The 
odds were so great that we had no chance 
from the beginning. I thought it a great 
mistake for us to charge under such condi- 
tions. But army orders are orders that have 
to be obeyed. 

" ' We all knew that it meant sure death 
when we started out of the trenches.' 

" Continuing his message to Mrs. M." said 
Dr. Thomas, "he spoke of an accident in 
which Mrs. M's brother, who was in an 
engineering corps in France, was severely 
injured. ' But he will get well,' the spirit 
said," declared Dr. Thomas. 

" Mrs. M. knew her brother and her cous- 
in were both in the war but had not heard 



102 SPIRITUALISM 

that anything had happened to either of 
them. In a few days a letter came, announc- 
ing that her cousin had been killed and her 
brother had been very seriously injured by 
an explosion of gasolene, but was then recov- 
ering. The news of her cousin's death had 
been delayed, as some time elapsed before it 
reached his former home in Ireland, and 
then more time passed before it reached this 
country. 

" The spirit message even went so far as 
to state that Mrs. M. would receive the 
letter on the next vessel to come into Boston 
harbor, which would prove what he was say- 
ing to be true. The letter came. Mrs. M. 
has it. 

The Rev. Mr. Thomas paused. Then he 
related the following similar and unusual 
incident. 

" I called at the home of F. H. W., Tre- 
mont Street, where I now live, and Mr. W. 
answered the bell. I had never seen Mr. 
W., did not know any of his family, or any- 
thing about him, or anything about the 
roomers in his house. While we were talk- 
ing I saw a spirit standing beside Mr. W. 

" I described the spirit so closely that Mr. 
W. told me his name was H. F., thirty-eight 



Proof of Spirit Return 103 

years old, who, with his family, had lived in 
Mr. WAs house for three years. While in 
Boston he was employed as an automobile 
chauffeur, and after he went to the war his 
family went to live with some of their rel- 
atives in Roxbury. 

" When the war broke out Mr. F. went 
to his old home in St. John, N. B., and 
enlisted in the British army. He felt it 
was his duty to go, as he was a British sub- 
ject and wished to prove loyal to his country. 
But he did not believe the war would last 
long and planned to return to Boston just 
as soon as it was ended. 

" He was sent to England and then to 
France. He was fighting in the trenches at 
Verdun when he and several others were lit- 
erally blown to atoms by the explosion close 
to them of a shell. They were attempting to 
make a charge at the time. 

"As the spirit appeared there beside Mr. 
W., who had known F. so well and liked him 
very much, the spirit said: 

" ' I want to send a message to my family 
to tell them I am happy. Some day I will 
manifest directly to them. 



104 SPIRITUALISM 

" ' I have found things much different in 
the spirit world from what I was taught to 
believe.' 

" Mr. W. suggested that I ask him when 
the war would end. I did so and he replied : 

"'All Europe will be in it yet, and per- 
haps the United States, unless a change 
takes place. There is no one in the earth 
plane who is perfect and knows it all. So 
here in the spirit world nobody knows it all ; 
therefore, there is no spirit here who can say 
when the war will end. 

" ' The men in trenches do not know what 
they are fighting for. They know very little 
about the war. It will never be known how 
many men are killed. The suffering in the 
trenches is so dreadful that the soldiers 
prefer death to remaining there.' 

" The spirit of Mr. F. then ceased man- 
ifesting," said Dr. Thomas. " When he first 
appeared he told me that he did not want 
to go to the war. He insisted that he was 
happy, even though he passed out under such 
awful conditions, his material self being 
literally wiped out of existence in the frac- 
tion of a second. Mr. W. told me that if the 
man had been standing right there I could 
not have given a better description of him." 



Proof of Spirit Return 105 

To show that he is not the only medium 
in Boston who has received these messages, 
he cited another instance fully as startling 
as any he has had. The message that was 
received by another medium for a Boston 
woman said that both her brother and her 
uncle had been killed, and word has since 
come to that effect. 

" These spirits can be seen very plainly 
through the spirit eyes," Dr. Thomas ex- 
plains. He says they have even taken on 
so much material form near him that their 
weight has sent the beam of a set of scales 
up until it registered forty-six pounds. But 
such materialistic demonstrations are very 
rare. They are usually wholly spiritual. 
He furthermore affirms that many of the 
messages are lost because none of the hearers 
take them down in writing, and the mediums 
cannot recall them later because they are in 
a semi-trance state when they catch them. 

Dr. Thomas has worked in many places in 
New England outside of Boston, includ- 
ing Providence, Pawtucket, Fall River and 
Brockton. He is now serving a society in 
Dover, N. H., in addition to his Boston work. 
His wife is a talented musician and fur- 
nishes music at his meetings. — Boston Post. 



106 SPIRITUALISM 

The need of the times is for a religion 
that will at least uphold our crumbling civ- 
ilization and maintain liveable conditions be- 
tween man and man, creating thus a desire 
to do to the other man as we would have him 
do to us. Church worship leads us not to 
this desideratum; instead, it is coming to be 
regarded as paganish. It is on a par with 
idol-worshiping. The heathen knows not 
what it is to do God's will in all the de- 
tail of everyday life; his worship is a thing 
apart, and it leaves the will fancyfree and 
foreign to " Thy will be done." 

The country needs conscience in religion, 
that men may be brought to a knowledge of 
the will of God and into a consequent peace 
and harmony in their relations with their 
fellowmen here and now. 

Within yourself exists the most marvelous 
being that ever was, so far as you are con- 
cerned. This may sound like a dream that 
I am having " out loud," but it is nothing of 
the kind. I am telling you sober facts, facts 
that you can verify in a comparatively short 
time if you will set to work in earnest and 
will do only a tenth of what you can do, and 
use only a tenth of the powers that lie within 



Proof of Spirit Return 107 

you unused, or now used in a wasteful or 
harmful way. 

What is the use of sitting around and 
waiting for things, when you can cultivate 
your own latent powers and do more than 
your present wishes can outline for you? 

A large proportion of the persons who read 
this book have some ungratified wish, some- 
thing in their lives that they have long hoped 
for, but with their present vision perceive no 
way of attaining. 

Man is a threefold being. To rightly 
understand him, to understand ourselves, 
to use our mighty powers, we must think 
of man in this way. If some of these words 
do not fit the mold into which your mind 
has been formed, then break up the mold, 
and let the free power of the spirit which is 
the one supreme creative force in the uni- 
verse, and in you, get to work in you. That 
is where we want to do business, to build 
up a new spiritual condition within our- 
selves. Induction of right thinking, right 
status of the inner being, is the easy and 
effective way to get this thing done that we 
want to do. Forget the outer shell, and go 
after the heart of the thing, make it your 
own and use it. You can use it in any field 



108 SPIRITUALISM 

of life in which you happen to be. There 
are no limitations. The apparent limitations 
that seem to function are man-created, man- 
accepted. The moment we deny them, we 
set them aside, we destroy them and their 
power over us, and we are free. 

Today we will begin breaking down bar- 
riers man-created. Today we will begin 
walking through gates of happier states, 
God-created. They are for us, and we will 
use the great powers that lie dormant within 
us, to become new and mightier and better 
beings, more in the likeness and image of 
the Creator. You can create just what you 
want. You have created what you are and 
what you have up to the present time. If 
it does not suit you, it is high time to make 
the big change. The power to do this must 
come from you, no one else can force you to 
set yourself free. 

This is the supreme and vital force that 
we must seek. If we begin with such under- 
standing, even our search for things will be 
the means of revealing that which is behind 
all things. We can double, or treble, or even 
still more increase the resulting benefits to 
ourselves and to our fellows. 

We want to help our fellows as we pass 



Proof of Spirit Return 109 

along, as much as they will permit. We do 
not want to try to force too much upon 
them. Each must develop and grow in his 
own way, thus will individuality flourish and 
bloom. Any attempt to force them to accept 
that which we think is truth is very apt 
to be disastrous both for them and for us. 

But to such as have vision to perceive that 
we really possess something that is worth 
while, and who come to us, we must give and 
give. We have, from the very manner in 
which we have discussed it, shown that all 
life springs from one common source, thus 
making you heir to all for which you can 
ever hope. 

To get the things you want, it is some- 
times more important to show you that it 
really belongs to you than to show you how 
to get it. Or, in other words, showing you 
that it belongs to you is often equivalent to 
showing you how to get it. Man has within 
him an enormous power that needs only to 
be unlocked and set in motion in order to 
bring into being the marvelous and the trans- 
cendent. 



CHAPTER V 

MY WORK AS A SPIRITUALIST 

At New York, May 5, 1896. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that we are well ac- 
quainted with Mr. Franklin A. Thomas, and 
take pleasure in introducing him. Indeed 
we esteem him very highly, spiritually and 
otherwise. Those who will be fortunate 
enough to meet him will certainly be helped, 
as we all have been. We are delighted to 
have the pleasure of testifying in his behalf. 
Very truly, 

James Irwin, 
Jennie Irwin, 
Dr. Elizabeth Irwin. 



From The Brooklyn Citizen, Brooklyn, N. Y. 9 
October 7, 1897. 
Prof. Franklin A. Thomas, Clairvoy- 
ant Medium, will hold a seance on Tuesday 
next, 8 P. M., Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn. 



Spiritual Work 111 

Reports of Societies 

{Hereafter " Reports of Societies " will 
be omitted before the Report). 

Some of the dates that follow in the Church 
Notices and Reports of Societies may be the 
date of the paper publishing the Notice or 
Report, others are the dates on which the 
meetings were held. 
From The Banner of Light, Boston, Mass., 

January 21, 1898. 

The Advance Spiritual Conference — The 
Corresponding Secretary writes: Met at 
Single Tax Hall Saturday evening, Jan- 
uary 21. Our minds were so full of good 
things received at the feast prepared for all 
at the mass meeting, that our speakers could 
talk of nothing else but the effect of that 
meeting, it being the means of drawing us 
nearer to one another in brotherly and sis- 
terly love, and we felt truly blest. Dr. 
Franklin A. Thomas was a speaker and mes- 
sage bearer. May the angels bless all with 
a baptism of peace, harmony and love to 
all mankind. 



At Elizabeth, N. J. 

From The Banner of Light, Boston, Mass., 
January 22, 1898. 



112 SPIRITUALISM 

Elizabethport, New Jersey, Spiritualist's 
Union — The Secretary writes : Held regular 
meeting Sunday, January 22, at their rooms, 
Elizabeth Avenue, at 2:30 P. m. Franklin 
A. Thomas of Brooklyn led the meeting. 



At Paterson, N. J. 

From The Banner of Light, Boston, Mass., 
February 5, 1899. 
St. George's Hall — Sunday, February 5, 
after an invocation by the president, and 
short address, communications were given 
by Mr. Franklin A. Thomas and others. 



At Galveston, Texas, March 5, 1903. 

The Spiritualist Society of Galveston, Texas. 

Mr. Franklin A. Thomas, 

City. 
Dear Sir : 

At a regular monthly business meeting of 
the Spiritualist Society of Galveston, Texas, 
held March 2, 1903, you were duly elected 
a member of our Society. 

Please acquaint yourself with the aims and 
objects of our Society, and aid as best you 
can to further the Cause of Spiritualism for 
Humanity. 

Theodore Schirmer, Secretary, 



Spiritual Work 113 

John W. Ring, Speaker, 
E. Fries, President 



From The News, April 19. 
Franklin A. Thomas, test and developing 
medium; blackboard demonstrations; private 
circles by appointment; developing classes 
are forming; private sittings daily. 



From The News, April 21. 
Franklin A. Thomas, test and developing 
medium, Market Street. Sittings daily ; meet- 
ings Tuesday and Friday, 7:45 P. M. 



At Chicago, III, February 18, 1909. 
National Salesmans Training Association 
New York City, Chicago, Kansas City, 
San Francisco, Minneapolis 
To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that Mr. F. A. Thomas 
has completed our Course of Training in 
Salesmanship, and has passed a very good 
examination thereon, and as he is a man 
with an excellent personal record, good char- 
acter, etc., we cheerfully recommend him to 
any one needing the services of an efficient, 
trustworthy salesman. 
We are 



114 SPIRITUALISM 

Yours very truly, 
National Salesmans Training Association, 
Per W. W. Dougherty, President. 



From the Progressive Thinker, February 6. 
Chicago. — The Secretary writes: The 
Christian Spiritualist Union Church, on 
February 6th, was well attended at Hop- 
kins Hall. Our president, Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas, spoke and gave messages. 



At Pittsburgh, Pa., May 3, 1910. 

Church Of Life And Spirit Return 
To Whom It May Concern: 

Mr. Franklin A. Thomas, while in Pitts- 
burgh, lectured at several of our meetings, 
and we were well pleased. His lectures were 
very interesting and instructive, and we were 
very sorry to know that he could not stay 
with us longer. 
Yours, 

Charles S. Hessom, President. 



At Chicago, 111., 

From The Progressive Thinker, May 10. 

Franklin A. Thomas, lately returned from 
his Eastern trip, wishes to hear from any so- 
cieties in the West needing missionary work 



Spiritual Work 115 

done. Charge for services according to the 
conditions found, reasonable at any place. 
Address, Chicago, 111. 



Phoenix, Arizona, May 15. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

This certifies that I know Mr. Franklin A. 
Thomas, and consider him a good platform 
speaker, test medium and teacher of occult 
work. What is still more to the point, I 
believe him to be a perfectly moral and clean 
man, and perfectly entitled to, and capable 
of, filling any position within your gift, hon- 
orably and satisfactorily. 

Mr. Thomas has had quite an extensive 
experience in work along the line of the 
" Emmanuel Movement," call it by what 
name you wish. 

Very respectfully, 

M. E. B. Thompson, M. D. 



From The Progressive Thinker. 
Chicago. — The Secretary writes : On May 
22nd the Spiritual Union Church of Engle- 
wood was well attended and enjoyed a Bib- 
lical entertainment given by members of The 
Progressive Spiritual Church, and we hope 
for another visit from them. Afterward we 



116 SPIRITUALISM 

had an interesting lecture on Ancient Reli- 
gions. May 29th we had a good lecture on 
Truth. 

Our President, Franklin A. Thomas, is a 
hustler. 



From The Progressive Thinker, June. 
Light and Truth Temple: Concert night 
was doubly celebrated. Being the nearest 
Sunday to Memorial Day, appropriate ser- 
vices were held. Mr. Franklin A. Thomas 
gave messages. 



From The Progressive Thinker, June 5. 

The Union meeting of the Church of Oc- 
cult Science and the Chicago Spiritualists' 
League, and members of the Illinois State 
Spiritualist Association Board, Sunday after- 
noon and evening, was a grand missionary 
affair and feast of reason. The meeting was 
presided over by the president of the society, 
and was a social, literary, and financial suc- 
cess. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas was a speaker 
and message bearer in the afternoon. 



Society of Light and Truth, Wabansia 
Avenue. Sunday, June 6th, our regular 



Spiritual Work 117 

church services were held. The pastor gave 
a lecture in German. Dr. Thomas lectured 
in English, also giving messages. 



At Farmer City, 111., June, 11. 

Franklin A. Thomas of Chicago will speak 
at the Free Progressive Church Sunday af- 
ternoon at 2:30 and 8 o'clock in the evening. 
All are invited. 



At Chicago, 111. 

From a correspondent: Sunday, June 12th, 
I attended the meeting of the Chicago Spir- 
itualists' League and the Occult Science So- 
ciety, at Vincennes Avenue. I am a member 
of the latter body. 

One of the speakers made a good appeal 
for organization, but his recommendation for 
our lecturers to base all their platform efforts 
upon the Bible is too narrow for progressive 
thinkers. Does he expect only orthodox min- 
isters on the platform, or that mediums shall 
poison the mind of the public as orthodoxy 
has done? Does he seek to bury the intellect, 
or divine spark, in man, wipe out the facts 
of history by silence? Are our eyes to be 
closed about the truths of nature, or evolu- 
tion, and as to the rotation of the universe? 



118 SPIRITUALISM 

Does he endorse the Bible with its 3,780 
errors? 



From the Progressive Thinker, June 17. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas writes from Far- 
mer City, 111. : I lectured and gave messages 
for the Free Progressive Church on the 8th 
and 11th of this month, afternoon and eve- 
ning. This was the closing service for the 
season. They report a prosperous year. The 
Society owns its own church, which is an 
honor to our cause. 



The Christian Spiritual Union Church 

June 29. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that Dr. F. A. Thomas 
is a member in good standing of the Society 
of Spiritualists of Chicago. He is President 
and Assistant Pastor of the Christian Spir- 
itual Union Church, which is chartered by 
the Illinois State Spiritualists' Association. 
He is a worthy and honorable man. 

(Rev.) Louisa Vaughan, Pastor. 



Mrs. M. A. Burland, 

Lecturer and Teacher of Occult Science, 

July 5. 



Spiritual Work 119 

I wish to say that I have been acquainted 
with Mr. F. A. Thomas for several years, 
and have knowledge of his Mediumship as 
a Healer and Clairvoyant, and I think him 
worthy a place in the field of active workers 
for Truth. 

M. A. Burland, Teacher of Spiritualism. 



July 9. 
To Spiritualists and Co-workers: 

I have known the bearer, Mr. Franklin A. 
Thomas, for some time. You will find him 
an earnest, conscientious worker in the 
Cause. He is a member of the Chicago 
Spiritualist League, and has worked on my 
platform. 

Yours for the Truth, 

(Mrs.) Maggie Henry. 



The Church Of Occult Scientists, July 9. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

I am personally acquainted with Brother 
F. A. Thomas, and have been so acquainted 
for the past four years. He is a member of 
the Church of Occult Scientists in good stand- 
ing. I have always found him a man of strict 
character, and truthful in all things. 

I cheerfully recommend him to any one 



120 SPIRITUALISM 

needing assistance in healing, and to any 
society as a Medium. 
Fraternally yours, 

Dr. M. L. Schseffer, President. 

From The Progressive Thinker, July 20. 

Fernie Katherine Wallace passed to spirit 
life from the home of her mother, at Chicago 
Lawn, July 13; services held at Mt. Green- 
wood Cemetery, on the 14th, and a memorial 
service was held by the Christian Spiritual 
Union Church, W. 63rd Street, on July 17. 
Fernie was almost four years of age. The 
memorial service was delivered by the writer, 
after the formal service of the N. S. A. was 
read by the pastor. President Thomas made 
a few remarks and the following lines were 
read by the author and writer hereof, in- 
spired by the quoted words of the poem : 

" I'm going, Mamma," Fernie said, " Oh, 

won't you go with me?" 
It was the last she spoke on earth, ere her 

sweet soul went free. 
The messenger had come for her, the time 

was set to rise ; 
She called them all around her bed to give 

them their good-byes. 



Spiritual Work 121 

It was so sad, and yet so sweet, that this wee 

feeble child 
Was called away from earthly kin, so pure 

and undefiled. 
Tis but a step across the way, and when the 

boatman calls, 
'Tis oft for those we love the best, and then 

the curtain falls. 

Just so when little Fernie went; tho' she was 
only four, 

Her baby soul had looked across to that eter- 
nal shore ; 

The angels came and caught her up to set 
her spirit free — 

" I'm going, Mamma," Fernie said, " Oh, 
won't you go with me?" 

The mamma knows her Fernie lives beyond 

the fallen veil, 
And some day when her time has come across 

the sea to sail, 
The gentle voice will call to her from that 

sweet soul set free : 
" Fm coming, Mamma, coming now, Oh, 

won't you go with me?" 

Dr. T. W. 



122 SPIRITUALISM 

At Waukegan, 111., October 24. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas preached yester- 
day at the Hall of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
October 29. 
A correspondent writes from Waukegan, 
Illinois: Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, President 
of the Christian Spiritual Union Church, 
Chicago, gave us a fine lecture on the 23rd 
of October, in the G. A. R. Hall. Many 
of the messages were recognized, and a 
most enjoyable and profitable evening was 
passed. 



At Chicago, 111. 

From The Progressive Thinker, November 12. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, La Salle Street, 
Chicago, President of the Christian Spiritual 
Union Church, will start about November 
20th for an extended trip through Iowa, 
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and 
Missouri, and he would be pleased to hear 
from any societies or churches that might 
wish his services during his trip. 



Spiritual Work 123 

James Russell Price, 
Physician and Surgeon, 
Lecturer and Teacher of Exact Science. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
Dear Doctor: 

I am pleased with your success in the 
College of Higher Science, and think you can 
carry the degree of Doctor of Spiritual 
Science with honor. I listened attentively 
to your address in the hall, and deem it a 
success. If the deductions or reasonings 
were made by you or your guides under 
inspiration, wisdom was shown. I predict 
success in your work in the lecture field. 

Yours fraternally, 
J. R. Price. 



November 15. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that I have been ac- 
quainted with the bearer of this Certificate, 
Mr. Franklin A. Thomas, of this city, for a 
number of years. 

He is a man possessing an unblemished 
moral reputation ; is strictly upright and hon- 
est; sober and temperate in all things. 

He is a well known Spiritualist, with a 
reputation extending over many States. 



124 SPIRITUALISM 

He is also a Magnetic Healer, and gives all 
forms of Manipulations — massage, chiro- 
practic, etc., and gives the very best satisfac- 
tion to all his patients. 

As to his work I can put it in no better 
words than to say : He is like the Great Naz- 
arene, he goes about teaching, preaching, 
healing the sick, and doing good. 

Amos W. Campbell, M. D., M. C, D. C. L. 



G. W. Cunningham, 
Editor and Publisher, November 17. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that I am acquainted with 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas and have listened 
to him many times as the speaker for the eve- 
ning at the Christian Spiritual Union Church 
of which he is President. He is an energetic, 
rapid speaker, working in the various depart- 
ments of Spiritualism for the uplift of human- 
ity. If people will follow the admonitions 
emanating from his personality on the plat- 
form, the world will be much improved as a 
place of residence. 

Very respectfully yours, 
G. W. Cunningham. 



Spiritual Work 125 

November 17. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

I have known Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, D. 
S. S., for the past year, and have listened to 
several lectures by him along Spiritual and 
Scientific lines showing that he is a capable 
man. His ability as a healer is wonderful. 
His social standing is good. I look for good 
reports from his work. 

Jesse W. Hendrickson, D. M. T. 



At Clinton, Iowa. 

From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
November 20. 
The President of the Philosophical Spirit- 
ual Society of Clinton, Iowa, writes : Sunday, 
November 20, the society had with them Dr. 
Franklin A. Thomas, President of the Chi- 
cago Spiritual Union Church, and he gave a 
very interesting discourse to a large audience. 
Dr. Thomas also organized a class in Clinton 
for concentration of thought development, 
and held two meetings at the writer's home. 



Dr. F. A. Thomas writes from Clinton, 
Iowa : Miss M. F. gave a banquet at her beau- 
tiful home in Clinton, and what was at first 
supposed to be given in honor of the officers 



126 SPIRITUALISM 

of the Mississippi Valley Spiritualist Asso- 
ciation, turned out to be a birthday celebra- 
tion, and a complete surprise on all the friends 
present, as it was the seventy-ninth anniver- 
sary of her birth. 

Miss F. has been a very ardent worker for 
the welfare of the M. V. S. A., and also for 
the Philosophical Spiritual Society of Clinton ; 
and to show the degree of esteem in which she 
is held by members of the Philosophical Soci- 
ety, an original poem in behalf of the society 
was recited and dedicated to her by their pres- 
ident. 



At Marshalltown, Iowa. 

From The Daily Herald, November 26. 

Dr. F. A. Thomas of Chicago, president and 
assistant pastor of the Christian Spiritual 
Union Church, will lecture and give messages 
at two meetings to be held Sunday, the 27th, 
at 2 :30 and 8 P. M. North First Street. 



From The Progressive Thinker , Chicago, III., 
December 3. 
From the Corresponding Secretary, Mar- 
shalltown, Iowa: Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, 
who has been here for a few days, has done 
much good and we will welcome him to our 



Spiritual Work 127 

city again. He left for Kansas City, where 
he will hold services December 4th. 



At Wichita, Kansas. 

From The Eagle, December 11. 
The Rev. F. A. Thomas, president and as- 
sistant pastor of the Christian Spiritual 
Union Church of Chicago, will address the 
First Spiritual Society of the A. 0. U. W. 
Hall, South Main Street, ; Sunday evening; 
will also be with them at their Lyceum, North 
Main Street, Sunday afternoon. 



At Oklahoma City, Okla. 

From The Oklahomian, December 18. 
Spiritual Progressive Church. Rev. F. A. 
Thomas, a well-known lecturer and test me- 
dium of Chicago, 111., will lecture Sunday 
evening at 7:30 o'clock in the Frederickson- 
Kroh Music Hall, West Main Street, subject 
will be " God is a Spirit and they that Worship 
Him Must Worship Him in ; Spirit and in 
Truth," John 4:24. The public is cordially 
invited to attend. Seats free. 



December 25. 
To Hold Christmas Services 
The Spiritual Progressive Church will hold 



128 SPIRITUALISM 

Christmas services Sunday evening at 7:30 
in the Frederickson-Kroh Music Hall on Main 
Street. The Rev. F. A. Thomas, of Chicago, 
will lecture. 



From The Oklahomian, January 1, 1911. 

Spiritual Church — Service Sunday at 7 : 30 
P. M., at Frederickson-Kroh Music Hall, West 
Main Street. Inspirational lecture by Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas. Topic for the evening, 
" Where Will I Spend Eternity?" 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III., 
January 1. 
Oklahoma City. The President of the Soci- 
ety writes : I had the pleasure of meeting and 
working with Dr. Franklin A. Thomas of 
Chicago here in Oklahoma City. Dr. Thomas 
has left here with a view of working in some 
of our neighboring towns, but expects to re- 
turn to this city in about three weeks. 



January 8. 
At Lawton, Okla. 

Dr. F. A. Thomas, President and assistant 
pastor of the " Christian Spiritual Union 
Church," Chicago, will lecture and give mes- 



Spiritual Work 129 

sages at 3 and 8 o'clock P. M. in Parmenter 
Hall, E. Avenue. 

Afternoon subject, " Spiritualism of the 
Bible." 

Evening subject, " God is a Spirit and They 
That Worship Him must Worship Him in 
Spirit and in Truth," John 4:24. 



January 11. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas of Chicago, 111., 
will lecture and give messages tonight in 
Parmenter Hall, E. Avenue. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 
The Secretary of the Church of Spiritual 
Light, Lawton, Oklahoma: Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas of Chicago has been with us one week, 
giving us some of his lectures and class les- 
sons on concentration and healing. We hope 
he will be with us again in the near future, 
for his lectures are very interesting. 



Church of Spiritual Light 

January 11. 

This is to certify that Dr. F. A. Thomas of 

Chicago has been with us for one week and 

has given us lectures on the philosophy of 

Spiritualism, also conducted a class on Con- 



130 SPIRITUALISM 

centration and Development of Mediumship 
— all of which have been instructive and of 
a high order. 

I would recommend Brother Thomas as one 
of the best Mediums along those lines that we 
have ever had. I consider him temperate and 
reasonable in all things, and that no Church 
or Society will miss it to employ him, as he is 
a teacher along those lines. 

Respectfully, 

M. Parmenter, 
Treasurer, Oklahoma State Spiritualist Ass'n. 



At Enid, Oklahoma, January 15. 

Dr. F. A. Thomas, President and assistant 
pastor of the Christian Spiritual Union 
Church, of Chicago, 111., is in Enid and will 
lecture and give spirit messages at the Odd 
Fellows Hall at the corner of Grand and Cher- 
okee tonight at 8 o'clock. The subject is: 
" God is a Spirit and they that worship Him 
must Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." 
John 4 :24. All are welcome. 



At Blackwell, Okla. 

From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
January 16. 
Beginning tonight, Dr. F. A. Thomas will 



Spiritual Work 131 

give a series of lectures in Spiritual Hall, over 
Hoppe store. Everybody welcome. Dr. 
Thomas is also a message bearer and will 
deliver messages from the spirit land after 
each lecture. 



January 17. 
Last night in the Spiritual Hall Dr. Thomas 
gave a clear and concise talk on the Bible and 
what he was taught to believe. Tonight the 
subject will be taken from John 4:24, " God 
is a Spirit and They That Worship Him must 
Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." All 
are invited to attend these meetings and hear 
the philosophy of Spiritualism. 



January 18. 
Hear those wonderful messages given in the 
Spiritual Hall by Dr. Thomas all this week. 



January 19. 
Don't fail to hear Dr. F. A. Thomas at the 
Spiritual Hall tonight. 



January 21. 
Those who are not attending the meetings 
in the Spiritual Hall are missing a rare treat. 
The interest is increasing with each meeting. 



132 SPIRITUALISM 

The subject tonight is taken from 1 Cor. 1 :12, 
" Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I 
would not have you ignorant." Come out and 
hear the truth as Dr. Thomas presents it to 
you, proving each statement he makes. Sun- 
day P. M. at 2:30 the subject will be: " Why 
am I a Spiritualist?" and Sunday evening at 
8 o'clock he will deliver a lecture on the sub- 
ject: " Where and how will I spend Eter- 
nity?" Each lecture is followed by spirit 
messages by Dr. Thomas and others. Tonight 
and tomorrow messages will be given by some 
who have attended the classes held by Dr. 
Thomas where he taught them how to unfold 
clairvoyance. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 
Greetings from Oklahoma 
The First Spiritual Church of Blackwell is 
growing in influence. 

On January 16th Dr. Franklin A. Thomas 
of Chicago met with us for a series of meet- 
ings, giving six lectures during the week, and 
holding five classes. 

The Corresponding Secretary. 



The First Spiritual Church of Blackwell 

February 9. 



Spiritual Work 133 

We, as representative^ of our organized 
body, The First Spiritual Church of Black- 
well, take pleasure in recommending Dr. F. 
A. Thomas for the good work he did while 
with us, as lecturer, message bearer and class 
leader. Altogether the series of six lectures 
and five classes proved VERY instructive, 
entertaining and beneficial. 

Fred H. Hoppe, President, 

Virginia Hinman, Secretary, 

Edna Bacon, 

Effie M. Roberts. 



At Lawton, Okla. 

Church of Spiritual Light 

February 19. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas will give a lecture 
this afternoon at 3 o'clock at Parmenter Hall, 
E. Avenue, subject, " Why I Became a Spirit- 
ualist \" Also at 8 o'clock in the evening, 
subject, " Where and how Will I Spend Eter- 
nity." Messages. Everybody welcome. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III 

The Secretary from Lawton, Oklahoma, 

writes: Dr. Franklin A. Thomas of Chicago 

lectured for the Church of Spiritual Light, 



134 SPIRITUALISM 

Sunday, the 19th, afternoon and evening, fol- 
lowing each lecture with messages. 



At Oklahoma City, Okla. 

The following Church Notice, except for 
change of topic, appeared in the Oklahoma 
City papers from February 26th to April 16, 
1911. Each week's subject follows consecu- 
tively : 



From The Oklahomian, February 26. 

Spiritualist meetings every Sunday at 7:30 
p. M. in the Musician Hall, W. Grand, Dr. 
Franklin A. Thomas, missionary. Subject, 
St. Luke 17:20, 21, "And when he (Jesus) 
was demanded of the Pharisees, when the 
kingdom of God should come, he answered 
them and said : The kingdom of God cometh 
not with observation ; Neither shall ye say, Lo 
here ! or, lo there ! for behold, the kingdom of 
God is within you." 

March 5, subject, " He that knoweth him- 
self is greater than he that conquers a city." 

March 12, subject, " Why I left the Church 
and became a Spiritualist." 

March 19, subject, " In the beginning God 
created everything but Hell." 



Spiritual Work 135 

April 2, subject, "Jesus said, Greater 
things than I have done ye also do." 

April 9, subject, " Comparing the Bible 
with the History of the World." 

April 16, subject, " Jesus was a Medium." 



From The Oklahomian, March 26. 
The sixty-third anniversary of Modern 
Spiritualism will be celebrated at 7:30 P. M. 
in the Musician Hall, West Grand Avenue. 
Lecture and messages by Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas. Subject, " Spiritualism of the Bible 
and Spiritualism of Today." You are cor- 
dially invited to attend these services. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

April. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas: The work is progress- 
ing finely here in Oklahoma City. I am 
having good audiences, and they are on the 
gain all the time. After each lecture, dem- 
onstrations in healing are given, followed by 
messages. On March 26th we celebrated the 
sixty-third anniversary of Modern Spiritual- 
ism, and the large hall was filled to the doors. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

April 29. 



136 SPIRITUALISM 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas has returned from 
an absence of five months, travelling over 
three thousand miles on a missionary lectur- 
ing tour, visiting Clinton and Marshalltown, 
Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; Wichita, Kan- 
sas; Oklahoma City, Lawton, and Blackwell, 
Oklahoma. He reports having been used well, 
and great interest was aroused in the work. 
In educating the people in the spiritual teach- 
ing, he distributed over two hundred back 
numbers of The Progressive Thinker which 
he had taken with him, besides many rolls 
which were sent to him from the office for 
distribution. The National Secretary also 
sent him many essays for free distribution 
during his extended trip. The eagerness with 
which this teaching is grasped by many that 
never heard of it before shows the need of 
just such trips as his, the sending of teachers 
to all the distant lands where this teaching is 
very little understood. 



At Hammond, Ind. 

From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

May 2. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas lectured for the First 
Spiritualist Society of Hammond, Indiana, 
the last Sunday in October. Since then they 



Spiritual Work 137 

have organized, and have their charter. He 
was called again to lecture and give messages, 
Sunday, April 30. The large hall was well 
filled. 



The First Spiritualist Society 

May 7. 
Interesting services were held in Weis Hall 
last evening with a good sized audience. Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas of Chicago was with us 
and gave a lecture and some messages. 

For the benefit of those who could not be 
present at the services last Sunday evening, 
a week ago, I will say that Rev. Mr. Thomas 
gave a very interesting lecture of forty-five 
minutes, and some messages. 

A member. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, Hammond, Ind. : 
I lectured and gave messages for the First 
Spiritualist Society. The hall was well filled. 
This city passed an ordinance licensing all 
mediums fifty dollars a year, and gave this 
society notice not to have more than one mes- 
sage bearer on their platform Sundays. This 
is a great drawback to their work. This soci- 
ety was chartered January 31, 1911, from the 



138 SPIRITUALISM 

Indiana State Spiritualist Association, which 
is affiliated with the National Spiritualists' 
Association. 



First Spiritual Society Of Hammond, 
Indiana. 

June 19. 
To Whom It May Concern: 

We take pleasure in stating that Dr. F. A. 
Thomas has been with us for the past four 
weeks. He has been working as Lecturer and 
Message-bearer. 

We have found him a man of good habits, 
ambitious to succeed, and always ready to 
take up new work and accommodate in every 
way possible. 

We have found him reliable, and of good 
ability, and recommend him to any one need- 
ing his services. He is leaving us of his own 
accord, and any favor shown him will be ap- 
preciated. 

First Spiritual Society of Hammond, Indiana, 
E. M. Kroer, Secretary. 



At Farmer City, 111. 

June 19. 
To Whom It May Concern: 
We had Brother F. A. Thomas with us 



Spiritual Work 139 

from the 8th to the 11th of this month as a 
speaker, and can recommend him. 

S. S. Barnes, 
Secretary of the Free Progressive Society of 

Farmer City, Illinois. 



At New York City. 

INTERBORO ADJUSTMENT COMPANY 

July 12. 
To Whom It May Concern: 

I have known Mr. Franklin A. Thomas for 
the past fourteen years, and have always 
found him a man of the strictest integrity. 

He is an energetic and industrious man, 
and brings great enthusiasm into anything 
he undertakes, and he is a man to be trusted 
under all circumstances. He is a man of good 
address, good intelligence, much experience, 
and will do his utmost to render satisfactory 
service. 

Respectfully yours, 

B. A. Whiteman, Manager. 



At Atlantic Highlands, N. J. 
From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

July 15. 
From Atlantic Highlands, N. J. : We had 
the pleasure of having Dr. Franklin A. 



140 SPIRITUALISM 

Thomas of your city with us last Wed- 
nesday night, and he gave us a very interest- 
ing talk. I wish there might be a society here, 
for I am sure it would be enjoyed by many. 



At New York City. 

From The New York World, 

July 30. 
MEETINGS Sundays, Thursday, 8 P. M.; 
lecture, messages ; classes for spiritual unf old- 
ment, Tuesdays, Fridays, 8 P. M. Dr. Thomas, 
teacher, 8th Avenue. 



G. M. Wheeler, 
Bond Broker, 

August 1. 
To Whom It May Concern: 

I have known Dr. Franklin A. Thomas for 
about fifteen years. I know him to be thor- 
oughly honest, upright, and a gentleman in all 
his dealings. 

I have spent many happy hours in his com- 
pany, and never tire listening to his talk. He 
treated me after an illness of ten weeks, from 
which illness I had been barely able to walk 
four months after my recovery, and in one 
month all my friends tell me I have grown ten 
years younger. 



Spiritual Work 141 

He is a man to be relied upon ALWAYS; 
a hard worker in all his undertakings. He is 
what you may call " the salt of the earth." 

Sincerely, 

G. M. Wheeler. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

August 19. 
The Secretary writes : The First Harmon- 
ial Society is continuing its meetings through 
the summer at Eighth Avenue, New York 
City. Meetings are well attended by intelli- 
gent and appreciative people. The last four 
Sundays Rev. Franklin A. Thomas of Chicago 
has entertained us and enlightened us by his 
lectures, and will continue to serve for the 
present. If all workers and mediums would 
cooperate and pull together in love, charity, 
and harmony, Spiritualism would grow so 
rapidly that it would soon become the largest 
religious organization in the country. Let us 
all forget the past, and commence now, and 
work together for the greatest uplift of the 
greatest truth the world has ever known. 



The First Spiritualist Association 
of New Jersey. 
Newark, N. J., February 11, 1912. 



142 SPIRITUALISM 

To Whom It May Concern: 

I hereby fully recommend Dr. F. A. Thomas 
as a spiritual lecturer, message bearer, and 
medium, to all with whom he may come in 
contact. He has lectured and given messages 
in my meetings, and we shall be only too glad 
to have him with us again. He is faithful and 
true. I have heard him speak in New York 
City also, and found him effective. 

(Mrs.) S. Darling. 



Minneapolis, Minn., March 25, 1912. 
To whom these presents may come, Greeting: 

I have known Dr. F. A. Thomas for the last 
seven years, and during that time I have had 
ample opportunity to observe his wonderful 
development as a Spiritual Medium. I have 
also had personal tests of his Mediumship, 
and these tests have been such unquestionable 
proofs of the truth of Spiritualism that every- 
body must become convinced that Dr. Thomas 
is one of the best exponents of this religion. 

I have also had occasion to notice the almost 
miraculous results obtained by Dr. Thomas 
as a Spiritual and Magnetic physician in 
many cases where human skill and ingenuity 
had proven powerless. 

As to the Doctor's personal character, I 



Spiritual Work 143 

can only speak of him in the highest terms, 
as everybody must do who has had the privi- 
lege of his acquaintance. 

Henry Wuerzinger, A. B., M. D. 



At Des Moines, Iowa. 

The following church notices, with subject 
for each week, appeared in the Des Moines, 
Iowa, papers from July 21st to September 27, 
1912: 

From The Register, July 21. 

Spiritualists will hold their meetings every 
Sunday at 8 P. M. in the I. 0. 0. F. temple, 
West Locust Street, until further notice. 
Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., will con- 
duct the meetings. Subject, Sunday, " Where 
and How Will You Spend Eternity?" Also 
Thursday 2:30 and 8 P. M., West Fourth 
Street, message services. 

July 28, subject: " God is a Spirit and they 
that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit 
and in Truth." 

August 3, subject; "Spiritualism and its 
Laws Explained." 

August 10, subject: "Why I am a Spirit- 
ualist." 

August 17, subject: "Spiritualism as a 
Practical Religion." 



144 SPIRITUALISM 

August 25, subject, taken from the audi- 
ence. 

September 7, subject, taken from the audi- 
ence. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

September. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas, from Des Moines, Iowa : 
After holding meetings here since July 21st, 
I have organized the Progressive Psychic 
Society. I will leave here on the 23rd for 
Oskaloosa, Iowa, to organize there. I have 
been appointed missionary by the Iowa State 
Spiritualists' Association, and will organize 
societies over this State. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

September. 
From Des Moines, Iowa. 

I would like to speak of the good work 
which has been done by Brother Thomas since 
he began the work July 21st, among us here. 
He has conducted the meetings and carried 
all the expenses of them himself; he has suc- 
ceeded in arousing the enthusiasm of the 
leading Spiritualists here and, September 
13th, organized a society called the Progres- 
sive Psychic Society. A president and a full 



Spiritual Work 145 

board of officers have been elected. We are 
sorry Brother Thomas is leaving us so soon, 
but his duties call him to other cities in this 
State to organize societies. 

A member. 



State Spiritualists' Association of Iowa. 
Incorporated under the laws of the State of 

Iowa. 
MISSIONARY'S CERTIFICATE. 
To Whom It May Concern : 

The duly authorized officers of the 
State Spiritualists' Association of Iowa. 
have appointed Franklin A. Thomas, of Des 
Moines, Iowa, a Missionary to organize new 
societies to charter, to solicit contributions 
for, and otherwise promote the general inter- 
est of, the Association, under such rules and 
regulations as the board may prescribe. 
(This appointment expires Sept. 13th, 1913.) 

In Witness Whereof, we have signed our 
names and affixed the seal of the Association 
this 13th day of September A. D. 1912. 

(Seal) Dora C. Crosby, Secretary 

John D. Vail, President. 



From The Des Moines Capitol, 

September 21. 



146 SPIRITUALISM 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, state missionary 
for the Iowa Spiritualists' Association, and 
Mrs. Thomas, will leave the city September 
23rd on a tour of organization of societies 
throughout the State. Dr. Thomas has been 
here since July 21st organizing a local society, 
which was founded September 13th to be 
known as the Progressive Psychic Society. 



At Oskaloosa, Iowa. 

From The Oskaloosa Herald, September 25. 
Organizer and Missionary for the Iowa 
State Spiritualists' Association, F. A. Thomas, 
D. S. S., and wife, are here from Des Moines 
to organize a local society. 



From The Oskaloosa Herald, September 25. 
F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., organizer and mis- 
sionary for the Iowa State Spiritualists' 
Association, has rented the Red Men's hall, 
corner B Street and High Avenue, and will 
hold meetings every Sunday at 7 : 30 P. M. 



From The Oskaloosa Herald, September 25. 
F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., organizer and mis- 
sionary for the Iowa State Spiritualists' 
Association. Special attention given to devel- 



Spiritual Work 147 

oping classes and organizing societies. Will 
hold circles at your residence. 



The following church notices, with subject 
for each week, appeared in the Oskaloosa, 
Iowa, papers from September 27, and with 
change of meeting place, continuing until 
December, 1912: 

From The Oskaloosa Times, 

September 27. 

Spiritualist's meetings every Sunday, 7:30 
p. M., Red Men's Hall, B. Street corner High 
Avenue, also message services Thursday 2:30 
and 7:30 P. M. at North B. Street. Franklin 
A. Thomas, Missionary for the Iowa State 
Spiritualists' Association, will conduct the 
meetings. Sunday's subject, " Where and 
How Will You Spend Eternity?" 

October 5, subject: "God Did not Create 
Hell." 

October 11, subject: " Jesus Christ Was a 
Medium." Text John 4 :29, " Come see a man 
which told me all things I ever did." 

October 18, subject: "The Laws of Spir- 
itualism Explained." 

October 25, subject: "What Spiritualism 
is Doing for the World." 



148 SPIRITUALISM 

November 2, subject: "Why I Became a 
Spiritualist." 

November 9, subject: "Why Men Wor- 
ship." 

November 16, subject: "Know Thyself." 

November 22, subject taken from the audi- 
ence. 



From The Oskaloosa Globe, 

September 28. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, missionary and 
organizer for the Iowa State Spiritualists , 
Association, who has been in Des Moines for 
a number of months and has organized a 
local society in that city, is now in Oskaloosa, 
arriving on Tuesday. 



From The Oskaloosa Herald, 

October 18. 
Franklin A. Thomas, Missionary for the 
Iowa State Spiritualists' Association, has 
secured a permanent place for meetings, First 
Avenue East. 



At Hayesville, Iowa. 

From The Oskaloosa Herald, 

October 23. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, Missionary for 



Spiritual Work 149 

the Iowa State Spiritualists' Association, 
North B Street, who had a call to Hayesville 
to lecture for the Spiritual Society of that 
place Monday evening, returned yesterday. 



At New Sharon, Iowa. 

From The Oskaloosa Herald, 

October 26. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, State Missionary 
for Iowa, left this morning for Sigourney to 
complete arrangements for Wednesday after- 
noon and evening mass meeting. He will 
return this evening. The Doctor will speak in 
the old Universalist Church, New Sharon, 
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock, and in Oska- 
loosa in the evening. 



At Sigourney, Iowa. 

From The Oskaloosa Herald, 

November 2. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas left for Sigourney 
this morning to conduct a Spiritualist mass 
meeting this afternoon and evening. He will 
return on Thursday for the regular message 
meeting that evening. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

November 2. 



150 SPIRITUALISM 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, Missionary for 
the State Spiritualists' Association of Iowa, 
had a call to lecture for the Spiritual Society 
of Hayesville on the 21st. It is a small town. 
They own their hall, and are in much need of 
workers. 



From The Oskaloosa Herald, 

November 28. 

Ever since the close of the recent union 
revival campaign in Oskaloosa, a spirit of 
revival work has been evident among the 
churches. 

Meetings are being held by the Spiritualists 
under the direction of the pastor. He has 
been assisted by Rev. F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
Missionary for the Iowa State Spiritualists' 
Association, and considerable interest has 
been created. The object of these meetings 
has been largely to instruct and strengthen 
the converts that were reached during the 
recent campaign, but in some cases, addition- 
al converts were secured and so the meetings 
have widened in their influence for good until 
quite a large number have been reached. 
Unless all present signs fail, there will be 
a season of religious activity among the 
churches during the coming winter. 



Spiritual Work 151 

From The Oskaloosa Herald, 

November 28. 
The " First Spiritual Association " of Oska- 
loosa, having completed an organization, and 
elected the required officers and trustees, will 
continue its meetings on Thursdays and Sun- 
days, 7:30 P. M., at the Association's rooms, 
East First Avenue, where ample room and 
seats have been provided, and to which the 
public is cordially invited. The coming Thurs- 
day night meeting will be in charge of F. A. 
Thomas, D. S. S., as formerly, while on Sun- 
day night and thereafter the new pastor will 
have charge of the Association's workings. 



From The County News, 

December 5. 
Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary 
for the State Spiritualists' Association of 
Iowa, called a special meeting on the 3rd inst. 
and organized a new society, The First Spir- 
itualist Society of Sigourney. A pastor and 
officers were elected. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III 

December 6. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas: Since last writ- 
ing you I have organized the First Spiritualist 



152 SPIRITUALISM 

Society of Oskaloosa, Iowa, and the First 
Spiritualist Society of Sigourney, Iowa. Both 
societies have sent for their charter. 

My wife and I are leaving for Ottumwa, 
where we will organize. The Progressive 
Thinker is always on sale at our meetings. 



At Ottumwa, Iowa. 

From The Ottumwa Courier, 

December 7. 
F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary for the 
Iowa State Spiritualists' Association, arrived 
in Ottumwa yesterday from Oskaloosa. 



December 7. 
F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
Missionary for the State Spiritualists' Asso- 
ciation of Iowa, West 2nd Street. Special 
attention given to developing classes and or- 
ganizing societies. 



The following church notice, except for 
change of topic, appeared in the Ottumwa, 
Iowa, papers from December 7, 1912, to Feb- 
ruary 8, 1913. 



From The Ottumwa Daily Review, 

December 7. 



Spiritual Work 153 

Spiritualist meeting every Sunday 7:30 
P. M.; message service, Thursday 2:30 and 
7:30 Sp. M., in the I. 0. 0. F. Hall. F. A. 
Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary for the State 
Spiritualists' Association of Iowa. Subject, 
" Where and How Will You Spend Eternity?" 
Public cordially invited. 

December 14, subject, open discussion. 

December 21, subject, open discussion. 

December 28, subject: " Jesus Was a Me- 
dium." 

January 4, 1913, subject: " The God of 
Yesterday and the God of Today." 

January 11, 1913, subject: " What Good 
Do We Derive from Spirit Communication?" 

January 18, 1913, subject: "The Power 
that Heals." 

January 25, 1913, subject: " The Differ- 
ence between Spiritualism and other Relig- 
ions." 

February 1, 1913, subject: " Who Is our 
Saviour?" 

February 8, 1913, subject taken from the 
audience. 



State Spiritualists' Association of Iowa. 
Incorporated under the Laws of the State of 

Iowa. 



154 SPIRITUALISM 

MEDIUM'S CERTIFICATE OF 
COMPETENCY. 

Be it remembered, that the duly authorized 
officers of the 

State Spiritualists' Association of Iowa, 
having become convinced that Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas of Des Moines has acquired the nec- 
essary education and development and in 
other respects is a proper person for the ful- 
fillment of the duties attending upon such a 
position, have this day granted him this Cer- 
tificate of Competency as a Medium. 

As set forth in the Articles of Incorporation 
and Charter of this Association, this certifi- 
cate expires one year from date. 

In testimony whereof, we have caused the 
proper officers of the Association to affix their 
signatures and the seal of the Association this 
16th day of December, 1912. 

Attest: Anna E. Foster, Trustee, 
E. L. Crosby, Trustee, 
John D. Vail, President, 
Dora C. Crosby, Secretary. 
(SEAL) 



From The American Spiritualist, Los Angeles, 
California, 

December 17. 



Spiritual Work 155 

Editors American Spiritualist: I would 
like to say a few words, through your valuable 
paper, in regard to the progress I am making 
with the work here in the State of Iowa. 

On the 26th of November I organized a 
society at Oskaloosa, and they have sent for 
their charter. They are doing nicely, holding- 
meetings every Sunday and Thursday even- 
ings; and on December 3rd I organized a 
society at Sigourney. They also have sent for 
their charter, and have appointed their pastor. 

I am now at Ottumwa and will organize 
here. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 
State Missionary for Iowa. 



From The Ottumwa Courier, 

January 4, 1913. 
The First Spiritualist Society of Ottumwa, 
conducted by Franklin A. Thomas, State Mis- 
sionary for Iowa, has secured the chapel, West 
Second Street for their Sunday evening meet- 
ings. 



From The Ottumwa Revieiv, 

January 11. 
The Spiritualists of Ottumwa met at the 
residence of State Missionary, Franklin A. 



156 SPIRITUALISM 

Thomas, West Second Street, Tuesday even- 
ing and reorganized the First Spiritual Soci- 
ety and elected officers for the coming year. 



From The Ottumwa Courier, 

January 11. 

" The Spiritualists are doing a great work 
in Ottumwa since F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
State Missionary, arrived here December 6," 
said a member of the organization this morn- 
ing. " Dr. Thomas has aroused the old 
Spiritualists," said he, " and converted many 
new ones to the faith by proving and demon- 
strating the continuity of life and that our 
dear ones do not die, but only change form and 
are still w T ith us after the change. He has 
reorganized the First Spiritual Society of 
Ottumwa, which is holding its meetings at 
West Second Street, and a full board of of- 
ficers and trustees has been elected. 

" A pastor has been engaged to take the 
place of Dr. Thomas, as speaker and message 
bearer. Dr. Thomas will then go to other 
cities to organize societies." 



From The American Spiritualist, Los Angeles, 
California, 

January. 



Spiritual Work 157 

I feel it is time to say to the many readers 
of your valuable paper, that I am not asleep, 
but too busy to write. 

Since Mrs. Thomas and I arrived here, (Ot- 
tumwa) from Oskaloosa, December 6th, I 
succeeded in renting the I. 0. 0. F. Hall for 
December, and now have the chapel, West 2nd 
Street, which is more centrally located and on 
the first floor. I have a notice every Saturday 
in the church column of our two daily papers. 

There were about twenty-five people at our 
first meeting and the attendance has been 
increasing each week. At our last meeting, 
January 12th, there were seventy-five pres- 
ent, and the attendance is almost as large at 
our Thursday afternoon and evening meet- 
ings. 

Ottumwa, like all cities in Iowa where I 
have organized societies, has had no meetings 
for years, and I have many obstacles to over- 
come. 

January 1st I went to Oskaloosa in the 
morning and, accompanied by the pastor I 
went to Sigourney to assist her with the meet- 
ing there. 

At my regular service on the 9th inst., I 
reorganized and chartered the First Spiritual 
Church of Ottumwa. All necessary officers 



158 SPIRITUALISM 

were elected, with twenty-five enrolled as 
members. I will continue to serve the society 
as speaker and message bearer until I can 
get some one to take my place. Then we will 
go to Osceola to organize there. I would be 
pleased to hear from workers who could come 
here and take charge of the societies after I 
have organized them. 

F. A. Thomas, D. S. S. 



From The Ottumwa Courier, 

January 22. 
There will be no message service of the 
First Spiritual Society this week on Thursday 
as F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., State Missionary, 
who conducts the meetings for the society, will 
be at Marshalltown conducting a midwinter 
mass meeting. He will return for the regular 
Sunday evening service at the chapel, West 
Second Street. 



From The Daily Courier, 

February 3. 
Belief Explained by Dr. Thomas in Series of 
Questions and Answers. 



At the Spiritualist meeting last night at 
West Second Street the hall was crowded to 



Spiritual Work 159 

its fullest capacity. After a song service F. 
A. Thomas, D. S. S., state missionary, an- 
swered some questions such as an investigator 
would ask. Among the many questions asked 
a few are given as follows : 

Question. " Who are mediums?" 

Answer. " Persons who can see and hear 
spirits or receive impressions from them. 
These are called mental mediums. Other me- 
diums are called physical mediums, because 
they are used by the spirits to produce physi- 
cal phenomena." 

Question. " Who are spiritualists in the 
true sense of the term?" 

Answer. " Only those who strive to live 
true spiritual lives, in accordance with the 
principles of right and justice." 

Question. " Have the Spiritualists a 
creed? " 

Answer. " Not in the sense of a religious 
dogma, binding upon all. The Order of 
Fraternal Spiritualists, The Independent 
Spiritualists' Association, The National Me- 
diums' Alliance, The National Spiritualists' 
Alliance, The International Spiritualists' 
Union, The National Spiritualists' Associa- 
tion, and a number of State Associations, have 
each their declaration of principles." 



160 SPIRITUALISM 

After these questions, the Doctor gave spir- 
it messages for an hour. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III. 

February 7. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, Missionary Iowa 
State Spiritualists' Association: The First 
Spiritual Society of Ottumwa has elected of- 
ficers, and has sent to the State Secretary of 
I. S. S. A. for their charter. 

Some of these officers have just left the 
church, as they are not ashamed to let the 
world know they are Spiritualists. If all Spir- 
itualists were not ashamed to own themselves 
Spiritualists, the world would look up to us, 
and we would not be ashamed of ourselves. 

Our hall, West Second Street, on February 
2nd, was crowded to its fullest capacity. 

I shall leave here February 13th for Des 
Moines ; will be there two or three days, then 
to Marshalltown to organize. We still are in 
need of workers. 

Address F. A. Thomas, State Missionary, 
Marshalltown, Iowa. 



From The American Spiritualist, Los Angeles, 
California, 

February 8. 



Spiritual Work 161 

Dear Editor: I would like to say a few 
words to the many readers of your valuable 
paper. Since last writing you, I have received 
your premium book, " Therapeutic Dietetics, 
or The Science of Health Foods and their 
Medicinal Qualities." If every one would eat 
according to its teachings there would be less 
sickness in the world. I also received the Sun- 
flower button. I do not see how any one, who 
is a true Spiritualist, can do without wearing 
an emblem of our cause, when it only costs 
ten cents. 

Franklin A. Thomas, State Missionary. 



At Marshalltown, Iowa. 

From The Times Republican, 

February 17. 
F. A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary for the 
State Spiritualists' Association of Iowa, ar- 
rived in this city on Saturday, from Ottumwa, 
and is now located on South First Street. 



From The Times Republican, 

February 19. 
In an effort to organize the Spiritualists of 
the city into a permanent church body, Frank- 
lin A. Thomas, Missionary for the State 
Spiritualists' Association of Iowa, is in the 



162 SPIRITUALISM 

city. A meeting will be held at the Stone- 
street home, South First Avenue, Thursday 
night at 7:30. 



The following church notice, except for 
change of topic, appeared in the Marshall- 
town, Iowa, papers from February 22, to 
March 15, 1913: 

From The Times Republican, 

February 22. 

Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary 
of the State Spiritualists' Association of 
Iowa, will speak Sunday, 7:30 P. M., at A. 0. 
U. W. Hall on Church Street, subject, " Spir- 
itualism Explained." 

March 1, subject: " The Difference between 
Spiritualism and other Religions." 

March 15, subject: " The Necessity of 
Spirit Communion." 



From The Times Republican, 

March 5. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, State Spiritual- 
ist Missionary, will address a meeting on 
North Second Street, Thursday, 7:30 P. M. 



From The Times Republican, 

March 8. 



Spiritual Work 163 

Spiritualists. — Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, 
State Missionary, will speak at the Colonial 
theatre at 2:30 and at the A. 0. U. W. Hall 
at 7:30. 



From The Times Republican, 

March 12. 

At a meeting of local Spiritualists, held at 
the A. 0. U. W. Hall, The First Spiritualist 
Church of Marshalltown came into being, 
with fifty-three enrolled as charter members. 
The church was formerly organized here, but 
during recent years has not been active. 

Officers of the church were elected. The 
organization was perfected through the direc- 
tion of Franklin A. Thomas, State Missionary. 



From The American Spiritualist, Los Angeles, 
California, 

March. 
Mrs. Thomas and I arrived here (Marshall- 
town, Iowa), February 15th, too late to secure 
a hall for our Sunday meeting, so held it in 
a parlor. Since then we have been holding 
our Thursday evening message services in 
various parlors, and our Sunday evening 
meetings in the A. 0. U. W. Hall. 



164 SPIRITUALISM 

I have been fortunate enough to secure local 
workers to assist me here. 

March 11th I called special meeting at the 
Hall and organized the First Spiritual Church 
of Marshalltown, with fifty-three members 
enrolled. 

We leave here March 20th for Iowa City, to 
organize. We are in need of workers here in 
Iowa. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, 111. 

The First Spiritualist Church of Marshall- 
town, Iowa, organized by Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas, Iowa State Missionary, who has done 
splendid work here, sends greetings through 
the Progressive Thinker to all societies, co- 
workers and friends, wherever they may be. 

Our society is not so large as we wish it 
might be, but we are doing good work. More 
people are becoming interested, and at each 
Sunday meeting the attendance is just a little 
larger than the Sunday preceding. 

The Corresponding Secretary. 



At Iowa City, Iowa. 

From The Iowa City Republican, 

March 25. 



Spiritual Work 165 

Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary 
for the State Spiritualists' Association of 
Iowa, and Mrs. Thomas, arrived in this city 
last evening from Marshalltown. 



From The Iowa City Daily Press, 

March 29. 
Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary 
of the State Spiritualists' Association of Iowa, 
public lecturer and healer, will open a series 
of lectures tomorrow at Woodmen's Hall, 
speaking at 2:30 and 7:30 P. M. The after- 
noon services will celebrate the 65th anniver- 
sary of modern Spiritualism, and in the eve- 
ning Dr. Thomas will tell of " The Difference 
between Spiritualism and other Religions." 



From The Iowa City Citizen, 

March 29. 

In celebration of the 65th anniversary of 
" Modern Spiritualism," Woodmen's Hall has 
been leased in this city for Sunday afternoon 
and evening, and Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. 
S., missionary for the State Spiritualists' 
Association, will be in charge. His subject at 
the afternoon session which begins at 2:30 
o'clock will be " Modern Spiritualism." 

In the evening meeting, at 7 : 30 o'clock, Dr. 



166 SPIRITUALISM 

Thomas will take up another angle of the 
Spiritualists' belief on the subject, " The Dif- 
ference between Spiritualism and other Relig- 
ions." 



From The Iowa City Citizen, 

March 31. 

The sixty-fifth anniversary service of mod- 
ern Spiritualism was well attended yesterday 
afternoon at the Woodmen's Hall. After the 
song service Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
Missionary for the Iowa State Spiritualists' 
Association, gave a brief account of the rapid- 
ity with which we are progressing. It is 
estimated that there are millions of Spiritual- 
ists in the world today. 

The evening subject was " The Difference 
between Spiritualism and other Religions." 
The subject was explained so plainly, that a 
child could understand it. Other religions 
teach a belief in a continued life, while Spirit- 
ualism proves it to be a fact. Spiritualists 
know, others believe. The Bibles of the world 
are filled with the records of Spiritual Mani- 
festations. In the beginning God did not 
create Hell, that is man's own creation, also, 
the kingdom of God is right here within you. 
Read Luke 17:20, 21, where the Pharisees 



Spiritual Work 167 

demanded of Jesus, when the kingdom of God 
should come and he answered and said " The 
kingdom of God cometh not with observation, 
neither shall they say, lo here or lo there, for 
behold the kingdom of God is within you," and 
again in John 4:24 he said " God is a Spirit 
and they that worship Him must worship 
Him in Spirit and in Truth." 



From The Republican, 

April 5. 
Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., State Mis- 
sionary, assisted the local pastor Sunday at 
2:30 and 7:30 P. M. 



From The Progressive Thinker ', Chicago, III. 
Franklin A. Thomas, State Missionary, 
held Anniversary Services Sunday, March 
30th, 2:30 and 7:30 P. M., in Woodmen's Hall 
to good sized audiences. This was the first 
anniversary service ever held there, — and 
the first time some people ever attended a 
Spiritualist meeting, — and was well appre- 
ciated by all. The desire of all was to have 
a permanent organization. A special meeting 
was called for the next evening at the resi- 
dence of one of the largest contractors of this 
city and a society organized to be called the 



168 SPIRITUALISM 

First Spiritualist Church of Iowa City. Of- 
ficers were elected for the ensuing year, and 
they have sent to the Secretary of the State 
Association for a charter. 



From The American Spiritualist, Los Angeles, 

California, 

April. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas, 
Dear friend and Co-worker : 

You are certainly doing a good work up in 
that part of the country, and should have due 
credit therefor. Your newsy items are always 
welcome to our columns. We are grateful for 
the loyalty of our friends, and are endeavor- 
ing to make our paper worthy of the esteem 
of every Spiritualist. May God speed you in 
your determination to spread the truth, and 
to swing Spiritualism above all other relig- 
ions. If we had a few more hustlers like Dr. 
F. A. Thomas, Spiritualism would have a 
boom second to none it has ever experienced. 
Fraternally yours, 

Dr. T. Wilkins, Editor. 



CHAPTER VI 

AN UNJUST ARREST 

At Davenport, Iowa. 

From The Times, 

April 12. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas will speak at Spiritual- 
istic Society meetings tomorrow afternoon 
and evening in The Times Auditorium. 

The following church notice, with subject 
for each week, appeared in the Davenport, 
Iowa, papers from April 19, to May 11: 



From The Leader, 

April 19. 

Meeting at East Second Street Sunday, 
2:30 P. M. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
Missionary for the State Spiritualists' Asso- 
ciation of Iowa, will conduct the meeting. 
Subject, " Why I Became A Spiritualist." 

April 26, subject: "God Did Not Create 
Hell." 

May 2, subject: "Come and see the man 



170 SPIRITUALISM 

that told me all things I ever did." 

May 11, subject: "What Causes Man's 
Downfall." 



The National Spiritualists' Association 
of The United States of America. 
Washington, D. C, May 1. 
To Whom It May Concern: 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas is a Missionary, 
Medium and Organizer of the Iowa State 
Spiritualists' Association, an auxiliary char- 
tered by the National Spiritualists' Associa- 
tion of the United States of America. 

His work is all in behalf of the religious 
work of this Association, a Religious Incorpo- 
ration granted as such in the District of Col- 
umbia, according to laws established by Con- 
gress. 

Dr. Thomas exercises Mediumship as one 
of the rites and functions of this body cor- 
porate. 

Fraternally, 

George W. Gates, Secretary. 



From The Daily Times, May 2. 
" Professor " Franklin A. Thomas, Spirit- 
ualist lecturer and revealer of the occult, was 
convicted in police court yesterday afternoon 



Unjust Arrest 171 

on a charge of violating the city clairvoyant 
ordinance by telling fortunes without a 
license, and was fined $10 and court costs. 
Through his attorney, he immediately filed 
notice of appeal to the district court from the 
magistrate's decision and put up a bond to 
cover the appeal. 

The city's witness against the clairvoyant 
was a detective, who claims that he received 
for the sum of one dollar, much advice on 
things beyond the ken of the ordinary individ- 
ual. Thomas insisted that he was acting in 
his capacity of Spiritualist advisor and that 
he should not be classed with the common for- 
tune teller. 

Note as to the last foregoing item, by 
Franklin A. Thomas : 

On my arrival in Davenport I called on the 
chief of police, as I had done in every city 
when doing missionary work. I gave him my 
street and number, and showed him my Mis- 
sionary authorization certificate and my me- 
diumship certificate, both issued by the Iowa 
State Spiritualists' ^Association, as well as 
other credentials I possessed. 

He said there was a city license for clair- 
voyance and fortune telling. I told him I 
knew what the law was, that a license was 



172 SPIRITUALISM 

required by the city ordinance for those who 
gave readings. I stated clearly that I was 
not there to give clairvoyant readings, nor 
was I a fortune teller; I was there for the 
sole purpose of organizing a Spiritualist 
church and would remain only long enough to 
accomplish this, before going to Dubuque, 
Iowa, for the same purpose. 

The chief informed me that there had re- 
cently been in Davenport two so-called Spirit- 
ualists — fortune tellers — who had paid the 
city license and robbed the town of $100,000; 
under pretense of telling their clients thus- 
and-so, and doing thus-and-so, they got the 
money and then disappeared. After giving 
me a minute description of the two men, he 
asked me if I would assist in locating them. I 
replied that I would do all I could to help him, 
as such fakirs were a great injury to the 
cause of true Spiritualism. 

I rented the Times Auditorium hall for my 
meetings. Some of the victims of the clair- 
voyant fakirs came to see me. I went with 
several of these people at different times to 
the police station in the effort to get them to 
swear out a warrant for the arrest of the two 
men who had swindled them. 

The chief introduced me to the police detect- 



Unjust Arrest 173 

ive force. On May 16th a man, who had been 
robbed of over $4,000 by these fakirs, came 
to me to be treated. While I was treating 
him a detective came in and we three talked 
together about the fakirs, and after the 
patient left, he and I were talking in general 
about them. In about ten minutes he got up 
and went to the door; throwing down one 
dollar on a table near, he asked: " What do 
I owe you?" 

" Nothing," I answered, " as I have told 
you before, if I can help in any way to locate 
the fakirs, I will do so." 

" You are arrested," he said, and took me 
to the police station at once. 

At the trial the magistrate said that I was 
a Spiritualist medium and he would fine me 
for not having a license. I insisted that my 
work of organizing there in Davenport did 
not require a license, as I was not giving read- 
ings. It made no difference what my plea 
was. After producing all of my credentials, 
I was fined, when I had violated no law. 

I was not alone in this experience. Every 
Medium who came to Davenport, despite his 
genuineness and honesty of purpose, received 
similar treatment at the hands of the police. 



174 SPIRITUALISM 

From The Leader, May 11. 

The First Spiritual Church of Davenport 
was legally organized at a meeting held Fri- 
day evening on West Sixteenth Street. The 
church was organized by Franklin A. Thomas, 
State Missionary, under the direction of the 
State Spiritualists , Association of Iowa. 

This is probably the first Spiritualist 
church formally organized in Davenport. Of- 
ficers and pastor were elected for the ensuing 
year. A meeting is to be held at 8 o'clock 
this evening in Prosperity Hall, West Second 
Street, at which Dr. Thomas will speak. 



CHAPTER VII 

MY WORK AS A SPIRITUALIST, CONTINUED 

At Dubuque, Iowa. 

From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III., 
June 6. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas : On our arrival 
in Dubuque, Iowa, May 17th, I found a lady 
who had been holding meetings, for a number 
of years, at her residence ; the meetings were 
not organized or chartered. She has been con- 
ducting them herself and the good work she 
has done will never be known. On our arrival 
she threw open her doors to us, and enter- 
tained us while in the city. 

I rented Columbia Hall, opposite the post- 
office, and held meetings three Sunday nights, 
which were well attended. Our Thursday 
meeting was held at the residence of this lady. 
June 2nd I called a special meeting and organ- 
ized and chartered the First Spiritualist 
Church of Dubuque. 

Officers and pastor were elected for the 



176 SPIRITUALISM 

ensuing year, and they have sent for their 
charter. 



At Wichita, Kansas. 

From The Wichita Eagle, June 15. 
SERIES OF LECTURES — Franklin A. 
Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary for the State 
Spiritualists' Association of Iowa, will con- 
duct a series of lectures under the auspices 
of the First Spiritualist Society of Wichita, 
commencing Sunday, June 15, at 8 P. M., at 
F. A. A. Hall, North Emporia Avenue. 



From The Wichita Eagle, June 15. 
First Spiritualist Society, services at 8 P. 
M. in F. A. A. Hall, North Emporia Avenue. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, State Missionary of 
Iowa, will lecture and give messages. Sub- 
ject of lecture, " Know Thyself." 



At Winfield, Kansas. 

From The Daily Press, July 22. 
The Winfield Spiritualist campmeeting will 
start Thursday of this week and will continue 
until Monday evening, August 4th. This is 
the greatest campmeeting of the Spiritualists 
held in the central west. The talent includes 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, State Missionary, 



Spiritual Work, Continued 177 

from Des Moines, Iowa, who has a ten days' 
engagement with the Camp as lecturer and 
message bearer, and others. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III., 
August. 
The nineteenth session of the Winfield 
camp opened July 24th with a larger attend- 
ance for the opening than for some time. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas filled his ten days' 
engagement with the camp association. 

A Correspondent. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, 111., 
August. 

The second and last week of Winfield camp 
was replete with interesting meetings, and 
platform messages. All the speakers pre- 
sented the philosophy in a manner that must 
have left an impression on the large audiences 
in attendance. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas followed his lec- 
ture with messages. Each message medium 
did good work, and their work was well re- 
ceived. 



At Lawton, Oklahoma. 

Church of Spiritualist Light 



178 SPIRITUALISM 

August 3. 
Sunday 8 P. M., Parmenter Hall, Avenue 
E., Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., missionary 
for the State Spiritualists' Association of 
Iowa, will lecture and give spirit messages. 
Subject: " Jesus was a Medium. " 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
August 15. 

On June 3rd, Mrs. Thomas and I left Du- 
buque, la., for Wichita, Kan. On Sunday 
morning, June 8th, I delivered a short address 
at the First Spiritualist Church, followed by 
the dedication by the pastor of two little chil- 
dren whose parents are members of said 
church. It was a beautiful ceremony and will 
be long remembered by those present. The 
three Sundays following, I lectured and gave 
messages for the First Spiritualist Society. 
Wichita has three societies. All meetings are 
well attended. 

We left Wichita on July 23rd for the Spir- 
itual camp meeting at Winfield, Kan., where 
I had been engaged to lecture and give mes- 
sages. I finished the work there and left 
Sunday, August 3rd, for Lawton, Okla. We 
worked Sunday night and every night the 



Spiritual Work, Continued 179 

following week for the Church of Spiritual 
Light. 

This makes my third visit here. This is the 
first society to be chartered by the Oklahoma 
State Association through the efforts of their 
state treasurer, who is also secretary for the 
society, and who has donated so freely, hav- 
ing fitted up a hall for the society, and has 
kept Spiritualism constantly before the peo- 
ple. If the world held more such men as he, 
Spiritualism would grow. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



At Chickasha, Oklahoma. September. 

Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary 
for the State Spiritualists' Association of 
Iowa, has been in the city since last Monday, 
in behalf of the Oklahoma State Association, 
to make arrangements for organizing a per- 
manent society. He and Mrs. Thomas will 
leave after the Sunday morning meeting, 
which is to be held in the City Hall at 10 A. M., 
for Lawton, where the Doctor has been en- 
gaged every Sunday evening since the first 
of August. He is also engaged to work at the 
seventh annual convention of the State Spir- 
itualists' Association of Oklahoma, to be held 



180 SPIRITUALISM 

at Lawton next Tuesday, Wednesday, and 
Thursday. 



At Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

From, The Nonpareil, October 5. 

A service will be held at 8 o'clock tonight at 
Danish Hall, Broadway and Park Avenue, by 
the Spiritualists of Council Bluffs, conducted 
by Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary 
for the State Spiritualists Association. Sub- 
ject, " Jesus Was a Medium." 

October 11, subject: " The Laws Govern- 
ing Spiritualism." 



At Des Moines, Iowa. 

From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III., 
November 15. 
Franklin A. Thomas: I am holding meet- 
ings in Des Moines and Valley Junction. I 
want to hear from every Spiritualist in Iowa 
as to what they are willing to do toward as- 
sisting our State Association in organizing 
societies all over Iowa. We also want several 
good mediums and speakers. Only those who 
can give the best of references need write. 
Address Franklin A. Thomas, State Mission- 
ary, Des Moines, Iowa. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 181 

From The Des Moines Leader, December 9. 

There will be no message services either 
Sunday or Thursday at West Eleventh Street, 
as Dr. F. A. Thomas, state missionary, will 
be at Ottumwa attending the state convention. 

December 9. 

Dr. F. A. Thomas, state Spiritualist mis- 
sionary for Iowa, and Mrs. Thomas, left 
yesterday morning to attend the State Spirit- 
ualist Convention at Ottumwa. 
At Ottumwa, Iowa. 



From The Ottumwa Courier, December. 

The first convention of the Iowa State So- 
ciety of Spiritualists held after a lapse of sev- 
eral years is now in progress in Ottumwa. 
One of the chief things discussed at this gath- 
ering, which has drawn workers from all over 
Iowa and other States as well, is the reorgan- 
ization of the society in the State. One of the 
workers stated that it is the purpose to take 
up the work where it was left some years ago 
as a State wide movement, and carry it to a 
bigger and better organization. The number 
who have thus far arrived to attend the meet- 
ing seem full of enthusiasm for the advance- 
ment of the work throughout Iowa and it is 
expected that by the close of the meeting, at 



182 SPIRITUALISM 

which time more delegates will be present, the 
work in the State will have received a great 
impetus. 

The convention opened its four days ses- 
sion in Ottumwa yesterday afternoon when 
the meeting was called to order by the acting 
president at two o'clock in the Odd Fellows 
Hall at East Main Street. 

Franklin A. Thomas, State Missionary, of 
Des Moines, told of the work throughout the 
State and spoke of the great need for organ- 
ized movement. Other speakers followed with 
brief talks. 



At Omaha, Nebraska. 

From The Mediator, December 20. 

Spiritualist meetings; Sunday 8 P. M., sub- 
ject, "What Spiritualism Teaches;" Friday, 
8 P. M., message service, conducted by Frank- 
lin A. Thomas, D. S. S., Missionary, Harney 
Street. 

December 27, subject: " Jesus was a Me- 
dium." 

From The Omaha Bee, January 24, 1914. 

At the annual meeting of the First Pro- 
gressive Spiritualist Church held in Mackie's 
Hall, Harney Street, Thursday night, Dr. 
Franklin A. Thomas was elected pastor and 



Spiritual Work, Continued 183 

president, with a full board of officers and 
trustees. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III., 

March 14. 
From Omaha, Neb. 

We are glad to report to the many friends 
of one of our members, lately of Washington, 
D. C, who has been working for our church 
as a trance lecturer, and who has been ill with 
an attack of pneumonia and in the hospital 
for the last month, that she has now quite 
recovered, and we hope will soon be with us 
again. 

Our meetings are largely attended, and we 
see many new faces at each meeting. 

On Sunday, February 22, our subject was, 
" God Did Not Create Hell," and on Tuesday 
the World-Herald had a report of the meeting 
in which it said: " The doctrine of a hell was 
rejected by Dr. F. A. Thomas, pastor of the 
Progressive Spiritualist Church, Sunday 
night at the regular services He told a 
large audience Cod did not create hell, ac- 
cording to the Bible. There was only one 
creation. Everything that God created was 
good, and according to His Word, hell is man's 
own creation. The doctor added, ' Heaven 



184 SPIRITUALISM 

and hell are no place above the stars nor in 
the bowels of the earth, but they are right 
here and are only a condition of the mind/ " 
We have five message bearers who are 
members of our church and assist us at our 
meetings. I could go to any place near 
Omaha that would like to have a worker or 
send one of them, to hold circles or arrange 
for a society. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III., 

April 11. 
From Omaha, Nebraska. 

The work in Omaha is progressing nicely, 
and the meetings are well attended. Our 
State president was with us in March, making 
a pleasing address and delivering to our so- 
ciety, the First Progressive Spiritualist 
Church of Omaha, its new charter. 

March 18th we held a special meeting and 
organized a Ladies' Aid and Lyceum. 

We are all new in Lyceum work, and our 
conductor being ill, we have been waiting for 
her recovery and so have not made much 
progress yet, but hope our officers will soon 
be ready to call the children and press for- 
ward in the good work. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 185 

Sunday, March 29, we celebrated the sixty- 
sixth anniversary of Modern Spiritualism, 
our hall being filled and prettily decorated. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Progressive Thinker, May 2. 

Charles A. Hoffman of Omaha, Nebraska, 
aged seventy, passed out March 23rd. A 
widow and four children mourn him. He was 
a Civil War Veteran. The funeral was in 
charge of members of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, Revs. Franklin A. Thomas and 
Savidge officiating. He had been a Spiritual- 
ist for more than fifteen years. 



From The Progressive Thinker, May 16. 

Franklin A. Thomas, Omaha: The First 
Progressive Spiritualist Church, Mackie's 
Hall, Harney Street, is getting along nicely. 
Services are held every Sunday at 8. P. M. ; 
message service, Tuesday 8 P. M., Ladies' Aid 
message service, Thursday, 2:30 P. M. We 
are all proud of our Ladies' Aid Society and 
the good work it is doing. The ladies are 
never idle. They have made arrangements 
to hold a bazaar and dance May 26th; there 
will also be "A Coon Wedding" (a little 
playlet) offered as a special attraction. 



186 SPIRITUALISM 

The writer held a meeting at a private 
residence in Arlington, Nebraska, and is try- 
ing to get addresses in other towns where the 
people would like to have meetings. 



At Fremont. 

From The Tribune, June 1. 
Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., of Omaha, 
lecturer, medium, healer and teacher, will 
give a lecture this evening at 8 o'clock in the 
Acton Piano House, Fifth Street. All are cor- 
dially invited to come. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
July 25. 
Fremont, Nebraska: Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas, pastor of the First Progressive Spir- 
itualist Church of Omaha, is with us every 
Monday night, holding public meetings. He 
lectures and gives messages at all meetings. 
His lectures are very instructive. We notice 
two or three ministers at each service. We are 
certainly having a feast and a spiritual awak- 
ening. It has been twenty years since we 
have had meetings or a society, and we hope 
that Brother Thomas will organize a society 
here this summer. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 187 

From The Progressive Thinker, July 25. 

Franklin A. Thomas, Omaha: The first 
carnival, bazaar, dance, and imitation colored 
wedding given by the Ladies' Aid Society of 
First Progressive Spiritualist Church, on the 
evening of May 26th in Mackie's Dancing 
Academy, was well attended. The Mackie 
orchestra furnished the music. After the 
wedding there was a cake waltz. Every one 
enjoyed a most delightful evening. 

Our meetings are well attended: services 
Sunday at 8 P. M., lectures and messages; 
Thursday, 2:30 P. M., message service. We 
will continue our meetings all summer. 

I am holding meetings at Fremont, Ne- 
braska, every Monday, 8 P. M.; would organ- 
ize societies in other cities. 



From The Omaha Bee, August 1. 
First Progressive Spiritualist, Mackie's 
Hall, Harney, Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
pastor — Sunday, 8 P. M., lecture; subject, 
" Ancient People/' followed by messages ; 
Tuesday, 8 P. M., service Thursday 2:30 P. M., 
Ladies' Aid message service. 



From The Omaha Bee, August 5. 
The associate pastor will conduct the ser- 



188 SPIRITUALISM 

vice at the First Progressive Spiritualist 
Church, Harney Street, Sunday night. Dr. 
Thomas, the pastor, will commence holding a 
two weeks' revival meeting Sunday. 



The following church notice, except for 
change of topic and place of meeting, ap- 
peared in Omaha, Fremont, and Lincoln, Ne- 
braska, papers, respectively, on the dates 
given below: 
From The World-Herald, Omaha, August 8. 

First Progressive Spiritualist, 
Mackie's Hall, Harney Street, Franklin A. 
Thomas, D. S. S., pastor — 8 P. M., lecture 
and message, subject, " When Shall There Be 
Universal Peace? " Tuesday, 8 p. M., message 
service; Thursday, 2:30 P. M., Ladies' Aid 
message service. 

August 22, (Fremont), subject taken from 
the audience. 

August 30, (Fremont), subject: " What is 
Spiritualism Doing for the World? " 

August 29, (Omaha), subject: " Do the 
So-called Dead Return? " 

September 5, (Omaha), subject: " How do 
Spirits Manifest to the Living? " 

September 12, (Omaha), subject: " Does 
God Answer Prayer? " 



Spiritual Work, Continued 189 

September 13, (Fremont), subject: " God 
is Love." 

September 20, (Fremont), subject: " What 
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul? " 

October 17, (Fremont), subject: " Pro- 
gression." 

October 18, (Lincoln), subject: " God Did 
not Create Hell." 

October 24, (Lincoln), subject: " How Do 
Spirits Manifest to the Living? " 

October 25, (Lincoln), subject: "The 
Difference between Spiritualism and other 
Religions." 

November 2, ( Lincoln ) , subject : " The 
Bible a Sacred Book." 

November 7, (Fremont), subject: taken 
from the audience. 

November 8, (Lincoln), subject: " Jesus 
was a Medium." 

November 14, (Fremont), subject: Open 
Discussion. 

November 15, (Lincoln), subject: " The 
Effect of our Thought on Future Genera- 
tions." 

November 21, (Fremont), subject: "The 
God of Yesterday and Today." 



190 SPIRITUALISM 

November 22, (Lincoln), subject: " Why 
Everyone should Develop his Mediumship." 

November 28, (Omaha), subject: "Spirit 
Return." 

November 29, (Lincoln), subject: "What 
Spiritualism Teaches." 

December 13, (Lincoln), subject: "There 
is no Death." 

January 3, 1915, (Lincoln), subject: " The 
Power that Heals." 

January 10, 1915, (Lincoln), subject: 
" Show me the Way." 



From The Tribune, Fremont, August 14. 

Spiritualists — Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. 
S., pastor of the First Progressive Spiritualist 
Church of Omaha, late missionary for Iowa, 
who has been conducting meetings at Acton's 
Music House for the last two months, will hold 
a series of revival services commencing Sun- 
day, August 16, and continuing until August 
23, assisted by other speakers. Arrangements 
are being made to organize a church in Fre- 
mont. 



From The Fremont News, August 14. 
Spiritualist Revival Services — At Acton's 
Music House, Sunday, 3 P. M., and every 



Spiritual Work, Continued 191 

evening throughout the week. Franklin A. 
Thomas, D. S. S., of Omaha will preside. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III., 
August 23. 
Fremont: Franklin A. Thomas, pastor of 
the First Progressive Spiritualist Church of 
Omaha, who has been holding meetings here 
for the last two months, has been here now 
for the last ten days holding a meeting every 
night. Although there have been more at- 
tractions than usual in our city, we have had 
good audiences. We certainly have had many 
proofs that spirits return to earth and com- 
municate with the living. Long may the 
Brother live and carry on the good work. 

F. F. M. 



From The Omaha World-Herald, 
September 29. 

A plan to organize all Spiritualist churches 
of the world under one head, with Omaha as 
headquarters, is proposed by seven Omaha 
Spiritualists, who have asked for a charter 
for the " International Spiritualists' Union " 
to operate as an incorporation under the laws 
of Nebraska. 

The articles of incorporation were filed Sat- 



192 SPIRITUALISM 

urday and Dr. F. A. Thomas was one of the 
officers elected. 



At Lincoln. 

From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
October 17. 
Nebraska State Spiritualist Association 
held their twentieth annual State Convention 
at Lincoln October 13, in G. A. R. Hall, after- 
noon and evening, and was well attended. At 
the close of the business session in the after- 
noon officers were elected. In the evening an 
address was given by the president; short 
talks and messages were given by the writer 
and others. Although little has been done 
because of adverse circumstances, the officers 
were encouraged and intend to work harder 
than ever this coming year. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Lincoln State Journal, November, 
Dr. F. A. Thomas, missionary for the Inter- 
national Spiritualists' Union, lectured in G. 
A. R. Hall last night. His subject was, " God 
is a Spirit and they that worship Him must 
worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." He 
said in part: " God is life and life is every- 
where and in everything; not away up above 



Spiritual Work, Continued 193 

the clouds, but right here and now, in you 
and me, and in every living thing at the same 
time. Spirit is life and life is God. God is 
no person, but spirit, and wherever there is 
life there is God." 



From The Lincoln Star, November 9. 

Jesus Christ was a clairvoyant, a medium 
and a mind reader, according to Dr. F. A. 
Thomas, a missionary for the International 
Spiritualists' Union, in an address at G. A. R. 
Hall last night. 

" Jesus was not only a medium, but a clair- 
voyant, and a mind reader," he declared. " He 
not only told people what they were thinking 
about, but what they had on their minds. He 
told people where to go to find their stock that 
had been stolen or had strayed away; and to 
go to another village and there they would 
find a colt which no man had ever ridden and 
bring it to him, which they did. 

" It must be remembered Jesus was a 
man born of woman, begat by man, and he 
suffered pain the same as you and I. He 
belonged to no denomination, but went around 
teaching, healing the sick and demonstrating 
spirit power; and after He had done all He 
could, He said : 'These things that I have done 



194 SPIRITUALISM 

and greater things ye shall also do.' People 
had been taught to believe differently and 
would not believe Him, so they mobbed Him 
and put Him to death." 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
November 21. 
Lincoln, Neb.: On October 13th the State 
Spiritualist Convention was held in the G. A. 
R. Hall. We had the pleasure of hearing 
Dr. F. A. Thomas, pastor of the First Pro- 
gressive Spiritualist Church of Omaha, speak 
for the convention. His lecture was highly 
appreciated. Afterward his messages were 
very convincing. We have succeeded in hav- 
ing him come to our city and hold meetings, 
as we have none here. His subjects are 
given to him a week ahead so that they will 
be announced in the church column of the 
daily papers, for Sunday meeting. We know 
with such a worker among us we will soon 
have a strong society. Long may the brother 
live and carry on the good work to bless 
others as he is blessing us. G. T. M. 



From The Progressive Thinker, Chicago, III, 
November 28. 
Omaha : The First Progressive Spiritualist 



Spiritual Work, Continued 195 

Church services are well attended. Sunday, 
8 P. M., lecture and messages; Tuesday, 8 
P. M., message service; Thursday, 2:30 P. M., 
Ladies' Aid message service. The Ladies' 
Aid will hold a bazaar Wednesday afternoon, 
a card party, and an old fashioned dance in 
the evening of December 9th. 

The writer has resigned as president of the 
church, and a new president has been elected. 
This gives me more time to do missionary 
work. I hold meetings every Sunday at 8 
p. M., in the G. A. R. Hall, Lincoln, Neb., 
which are well attended, and go from there 
to Fremont Monday, holding a meeting there 
Monday at 8 P. M. in the Acton's Music House. 

Would like to hear from any one who would 
like to have a society organized. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Star, Lincoln, November 29. 

What Spiritualism teaches. — " What Spir- 
itualism Teaches was the subject of an ad- 
dress last evening by Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas, Missionary for the International 
Spiritualists' Union, at the G. A. R. Hall. 
" Spiritualism teaches and proves immortal- 
ity," the speaker said. " It teaches us to live 



196 SPIRITUALISM 

right each day and if we live right each day 
we need have no fear. 

" God is not cruel, but is a God of love. The 
life we live here, we live after so-called death. 
It only changes the form by throwing off the 
material body and taking on a spiritual one. 
The spirit world is a natural world, while 
the material world is not a natural world. 
Spiritualism teaches us we are our own God 
or devil and Heaven or Hell is within us. It 
is only a condition of the mind ; what we have 
in our mind takes possession of us and that is 
what we are." 



From The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, 
November 29. 
" Spiritualism not only teaches but proves 
that life continues beyond the grave," said 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, Missionary for the 
International Spiritualists' Union, in an ad- 
dress at G. A. R. Hall last night. His subject 
was " What Spiritualism Teaches." " It 
teaches us," he said, " to live every day aright. 
If we live right, we will die right. It teaches 
us not to fear God, for God is love ; He is not 
a cruel person, and He does not punish us. 
We punish ourselves by violating natural 
laws, and are only held responsible for what 



Spiritual Work, Continued 197 

we do. Believing in some one who lived and 
died will never bring back a life after it is 
taken, neither will it save any one to believe 
that he will be saved. The life we live here 
we live after so-called death." 



From The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, 
December 7. 

The International Spiritualists' Union has 
organized a church in Lincoln. Rev. Franklin 
A. Thomas, Missionary for the Union, who 
has been holding meetings for the last six 
Sundays in the G. A. R. Hall, called a special 
meeting yesterday at 2:30 P. M. in the small 
hall and organized the " First Spiritualist 
Church of Lincoln." Officers were elected for 
the ensuing year. 

Meetings will be held in the G. A. R. Hall 
every Sunday evening. Dr. Thomas will serve 
as pastor until the new pastor arrives. 



From The Sunday Star, Lincoln, 
December 14. 
Dr. Thomas speaks. — " There is no death " 
was the subject chosen by Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas, pastor of the First Progressive Spir- 
itualist Church, at G. A. R. Hall, Sunday. 
Dr. Thomas said : " So-called death only 



198 SPIRITUALISM 

changes the form by throwing off the material 
body and taking on a spiritual one. The body 
is continually throwing off material substance 
and going through many changes and when 
the spirit leaves the body, it does not die ; the 
body returns to the earth from whence it 
came; neither does the spirit die, as it is life 
and life is God and God is all, so who is there 
that can destroy life?^ 



Incorporated 1914 
International Spiritualists Union 
Omaha, Neb., U. S. A. 
ORDINATION CERTIFICATE 
This certifies that the International Spirit- 
ualists Union by authority of its Charter, 
granted under the Laws of the State of Ne- 
braska, has ordained Franklin A. Thomas of 
Omaha, County of Douglas, State of Nebras- 
ka, as a Minister of Spiritualism, which em- 
powers him to perform the marriage cere- 
mony, conduct burial services, to give Spirit 
communications, and make a reasonable 
charge therefor, and to exercise all other 
functions usually granted in rite of Ordina- 
tion. 

In witness whereof the International Spir- 
itualists Union has caused its official seal and 



Spiritual Work, Continued 199 

the signatures of its President and Secretary 
to be affixed hereto this 3rd day of December, 
1914. 

George Mackie, President. 

R. G. Summerfield, Secretary. 
(SEAL) 



From The Star, Lincoln, January 17, 1915. 
Rev. Thomas speaks — " Who wrote the 
Bible " was the subject of an address Sunday 
evening by Rev. F. A. Thomas, pastor of the 
First Spiritualist Church, at the G. A. R. Hall. 
According to the speaker, the books that com- 
pose the Old Testament were originally man- 
uscripts written by various Jewish and Egyp- 
tian authors. At that time, the speaker said, 
the interest taken in manuscripts of a sacred 
character was such as has never met with a 
parallel, except at one subsequent period 
when there existed an actual mania upon the 
subject, and which period has been distin- 
guished by some writers as the age of biblio- 
mania. At the council of Toledo in the year 
633, the books of James, Jude, and the Revela- 
tion of St. John were received into the canon. 
Then the Old and New Testaments were 
established in nearly the same form in v/hich 



200 SPIRITUALISM 

they exist at the present time, said Rev. 
Thomas. 



From The Star, Lincoln, February 22. 

" The Analysis of Spiritualism " was the 
subject of an address delivered Sunday eve- 
ning by Rev. F. A. Thomas, pastor of the 
First Spiritualist Church, before a crowd 
that packed G. A. R. Hall, South Twelfth 
Street. During the progress of his discourse 
he fully explained Spiritualism to those pres- 
ent. He also explained the terms medium, 
clairvoyant, etc., and showed how the teach- 
ings of Spiritualism were proven by the 
Bible. 

" Spiritualism teaches us there is no death, 
because of the communication between the 
mortal and spirit world, and the continuity 
of life even after the disappearance of the 
mortal body/' stated Rev. Mr. Thomas. 

" The persistency of the religious concep- 
tion that in order to be saved it was necessary 
to sacrifice human blood is an error of ortho- 
doxy which the Spiritualists have proven to 
be a barbaric conception/' continued the 
speaker. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 201 

From Two Worlds, Manchester, England, 

March. 

International Spiritualists' Union. 

The International Spiritualists' Union was 

incorporated under the laws of the State of 

Nebraska, U. S. A., on September 23rd, 1914, 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas being one of the 

incorporators. 



From The Daily Neivs, Omaha, March 12. 
Editor Omaha Daily News: 

A casual reader might gather an errone- 
ous impression from an article upon Spirit- 
ualism in a recent issue of your paper. 

In December, 1847, John D. Fox with his 
wife and two little daughters, Catherine and 
Margaretta, rented a house of Artemus W. 
Hyde at Hydesville, N. Y., and moved there. 
They were members of the Methodist Church. 
About a month after their first occupancy of 
this dwelling, strange noises began to occur, 
strange voices were heard, loud raps, foot- 
steps, a tremulous jar of the house was felt, 
with other demonstrations, the cause of 
which was searched for in vain. 

Men in all walks of life tried to explain. 
This continued until March 31st of the fol- 
lowing year, when an intelligent response 



202 SPIRITUALISM 

to questions was gained by raps. One rap 
meant "no;" two, "don't know;" three, 
" yes." Afterwards a complete alphabet was 
discovered. 

By this means it was learned that a peddler 
named Charles B. Rosna had been murdered 
for $500 and the contents of his pack. His 
body was found in the cellar. Since that day 
millions have received spirit communication 
from friends beyond the grave. Spirit com- 
munication has robbed death of all its hor- 
rors. 

Rev. F. A. Thomas. 



From The Star, Lincoln, March 15. 
QUESTIONS ANSWERED BRIEFLY 
Gertrude. Write to Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas, Harney Street, Omaha, for informa- 
tion on Spiritualism. I am not informed. 
He is the leader of the Spiritualist church of 
that city, also directs meetings of that kind 
in Lincoln. He says that Spiritualism was 
discovered in 1847 by John D. Fox and fam- 
ily, members of the Methodist Church; that 
they moved into a house at Hydesville, New 
York, in December of that year and soon 
began to hear strange voices, raps, footsteps, 
etc. This, he says, caused a great deal of 



Spiritual Work, Continued 203 

excitement among scientists who tried to find 
their meaning. Finally an intelligent re- 
sponse to questions was obtained through 
these raps and a Spiritualistic alphabet ob- 
tained, according to Dr. Thomas. He says 
that by this means it was learned that a 
peddler named Charles B. Rosna had been 
murdered for $500 and the contents of his 
pack, and his body was found in the cellar. 



From The Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, 
March 22. 

A Spiritualist meeting in G. A. R. Hall 
came to a sudden halt Sunday evening when 
a young student for the ministry leaped to 
his feet and brandishing a Bible began to 
call upon the Lord to stop the meeting. Two 
ushers seized him and pulled him down. The 
audience became involved in the uproar 
which followed and the police were called. 

The young man was taken to the city jail, 
followed by a crowd or forty or fifty boys 
and young men. He gave his name and said 
that he was studying for the ministry. He 
carried a Bible, several religious tracts and 
two pamphlets written by himself. He said 
he was employed in a shop at College View, 



204 SPIRITUALISM 

His home is in Springfield, Iowa, where he 
had gone to school. 

The meeting which he interrupted was 
announced as a Spiritualist meeting in G. 
A. R. Hall. Similar services have been held 
in the hall for several months, conducted by 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas. 

University sorority girls, fraternity men, 
high school students and boys composed the 
largest part of the audience Sunday evening. 
About two hundred were crowded into the 
hall. 

When the interruption occurred the Spirit- 
ualist was giving messages to members of 
the audience. Suddenly the young man 
leaped to his feet in the rear of the room and 
started towards the front platform. He 
pulled a Bible from his pocket and flourished 
it in the air, saying, " This is the word of 
God." He starter reading passages from 
the Bible, but was pulled down by two ushers. 
The young man resumed his seat, but kept 
quiet only for a few minutes. When he 
insisted upon quoting more Biblical passages, 
one of the ushers called for a policeman. 

The gospel student was followed by a 
crowd of students and boys from the hall to 
the police station. He took his arrest calmly, 



Spiritual Work, Continued 205 

saying that the Lord had told him to stop 
the meeting. The man who caused his arrest 
agreed to appear against him this morning. 



From The Daily News, Lincoln, March 22. 
The young student, who was charged with 
disturbing a meeting of Spiritualists at G. 
A. R. Hall Sunday evening, was liberated 
from the city jail Monday morning. Rev. 
Mr. Thomas and other leaders of the meet- 
ing stated that they did not care to prosecute 
the young man if he would agree to remain 
away from the meetings hereafter, and he 
agreed to do this. When he was asked where 
he came from he said that God had sent him 
from the East. He said that he was taking 
some special work at College View. 



From The Daily Star, Lincoln, March 27. 
Celebrate Anniversary. — The sixty-seventh 
anniversary of modern Spiritualism was cele- 
brated at the First Spiritualist Church in 
G. A. R. Hall last evening. The hall was 
decorated with American flags and a large 
sunflower, the emblem of Spiritualism, which 
represents the spiritualistic turning toward 
truth even as the sunflower is always turn- 
ing toward the sun. 



206 SPIRITUALISM 

The meeting opened with a salute to the 
flag, songs, invocation, reading of poems and 
reception of new members. Rev. F. A. 
Thomas, the pastor, told of the origin of 
modern Spiritualism and its early history. 
He gave an account of the persecutions of 
the early followers of the cult. 



From The World-Herald, Omaha, March 28. 
Today is the sixty-seventh anniversary of 
Modern Spiritualism and is being celebrated 
in the various Spiritualist churches through- 
out the country. A special program will be 
given at the First Progressive Spiritualist 
Church, Harney Street, this evening at 8 
o'clock. Dr. F. A. Thomas, pastor of the 
church, will give a history of the progress 
of Spiritualism from its birth to the present 
day. 



From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 

April. 
Mrs. Thomas and I arrived here one year 
ago last December and have made our home 
here ever since. The year prior I was called 
to Iowa by the president of the State Asso- 
ciation, to reorganize its societies, which I 
did, organizing nine and having a state con- 



Spiritual Work, Continued 207 

vention called at Ottumwa, which finished 
my work there. 

Here in Omaha I noticed that none of the 
newspapers carried Spiritualist notices. I 
visited the various papers, and was informed 
that there were a number of fortune tellers 
in the city who carried on their business 
under the guise of Spiritualism, which was 
the reason no notices were taken by the 
papers, even for pay. After showing them 
my church notices from different cities, I had 
no trouble getting them published here with 
the notices of other churches, free of charge. 
I never have allowed and never do allow, 
any one to give announcements of readings 
from my platforms. They can leave their 
cards on a table at the door. 

Soon after arriving here I organized the 
First Progressive Spiritualist Church. Meet- 
ings are held every Sunday, 8 p.m.; lectures 
and messages; Tuesday, 8 P. M. ; message 
service; Thursday, 2:30 P. M., Ladies' Aid 
message service. These services are held the 
year 'round. We have several good workers 
in our church which gives me an opportunity 
to do missionary work. 

All last summer I held meetings at Fre- 
mont every Monday night. My entire time 



208 SPIRITUALISM 

is devoted to spiritual work and healing. In 
September I started to hold meetings at Lin- 
coln, and am now serving them also as pastor. 
Message service, Saturday, 8 P. M.; lecture 
and messages, Sunday, 8 P. M. The hall is 
not large enough to accommodate with seats 
all who attend. 

I expect to go from city to city and organ- 
ize societies as fast as we can get workers 
to take charge of them. Would be glad to 
hear from workers elsewhere. 



From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 

May. 
The Omaha News devotes considerable 
space in late issues to the discussion of the 
inception and growth of Modern Spiritual- 
ism. Among others, is an article from the 
pen of Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, pastor of 
the First Progressive Spiritualist Church, 
Omaha. Our space does not permit us to 
reproduce these articles, but it is encouraging 
to see the secular press giving up space to 
the consideration of this important subject, 
without trying to make fun, or resort to 
ridicule, as is too often the case. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 209 

From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 

May, 
A special celebration of the Sixty-Seventh 
Anniversary of Modern Spiritualism was 
held on March 30th at the First Progressive 
Spiritualist Church, Omaha, Nebraska. Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas, pastor of the church, 
gave a thorough history of the progress of 
Modern Spiritualism from its birth to the 
present day. 



From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 

May. 

Dr. F. A. Thomas writes from Omaha, 
Nebraska: Have worked seven months in 
Lincoln every Saturday and Sunday evening. 
Since the seventh of December have served 
the First Spiritualist Church as pastor. On 
the twenty-eighth of March we celebrated the 
Sixty-seventh Anniversary of Modern Spirit- 
ualism. On the thirtieth we celebrated the 
Anniversary at the First Progressive Spirit- 
ualist Church of Omaha, having a fine pro- 
gram, and on the thirty-first held Anniver- 
sary Exercises in North Omaha. 

I am now holding meetings in Omaha and 
have had several calls from other States, and 



210 SPIRITUALISM 

expect to start doing Missionary Work as 
soon as arrangements for same can be made. 
I would like names and addresses of all 
who would like to have a society organized, 
also, workers who will follow me and work 
for societies after they are organized. 



From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 

May. 

It is not generally known that we have 
in Omaha, Nebraska, a corporation working 
on parallel lines with other National Asso- 
ciations. This body was incorporated last 
year by the State of Nebraska under the 
name of " International Spiritualists' Union." 
They have a very definite and carefully pre- 
pared Constitution and By-Laws. They also 
appear to be active workers. They send out 
Missionaries, organize and charter Societies, 
ordain ministers, etc. Among other good 
things they are doing, they recommend The 
Spiritualist News to their members. 

As a sample of the good work already done, 
this Association has since its organization 
secured an amendment to a City Ordinance 
in Omaha, recognizing Spiritualism as a 
religion, and exempting from license fee 



Spiritual Work, Continued 211 

mediums who possess a certificate from a 
duly recognized Spiritualist organization. 

They claim it to be their intention to prove 
by actual practical results the justification 
of their existence. They think there has been 
too much theorizing and not enough active, 
aggressive effort on the part of those who 
have stood as leaders among Spiritualists. 
We agree that an improvement in this re- 
spect would not be amiss. 



CHAPTER VIII 

CORRESPONDENCE 

From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III, 

June 1. 
To the Editor of The Spiritualist News: 

For years the church was in such a con- 
dition of confusion that in the sixteenth cen- 
tury John Calvin and Martin Luther broke 
away from the then existing form of worship 
and established a new one. Why did they 
do this after the church had been in existence 
for hundreds of years? Because they saw 
better ways to help the people spiritually. 
Just so with the International Spiritualists' 
Union. 

There is not enough spirituality among the 
Spiritualists of today. If there were less 
petty jealousy and a closer unity of thought 
among all the Spiritualists, their cause would 
grow more rapidly. Why can we not smother 
our selfish personal feelings and act in unity 



Correspondence 213 

and harmony for the advancement of Spirit- 
ualism? 

There are some four hundred societies 
affiliated with State associations, while there 
are over eight hundred societies that do not 
belong to any association. Why can not these 
organizations be brought together? In unity 
there is strength. 

What is being done toward getting workers 
out in the field among these societies? I am 
receiving calls from all parts of the United 
States for help. " Oh, do come and work 
for us, or send some one." This is the cry 
from everywhere. 

Years ago there were no laws against 
mediums using their phase of mediumship, 
therefore there were better workers then 
than now. Those possessing natural gifts of 
mediumship were not deterred from develop- 
ing those gifts. What inducement is offered 
today for development of Mediumship? Who 
protects them after they are out in the field? 
Who pays their fines when arrested for 
giving a spiritual reading? 

In some states it is considered a disgrace 
to be a medium. According to the State laws, 
mediums are classed as vagrants, and are 



214 SPIRITUALISM 

not allowed to practice mediumship under 
any condition. 

The states of Texas, Michigan, and Okla- 
homa have passed laws making it a crime 
to give a spiritual reading. In these states 
are some of the oldest Spiritualist societies 
in the United States. In Washington, D. C, 
it makes no difference whether you hold a 
certificate or not, you must pay the city 
license before you can give a spiritual read- 
ing. Who is to blame for this condition of 
affairs? 

Who will take the place of the old workers 
when they have passed out, if spiritual me- 
diums are not to be protected? Is it not time 
for Spiritualists to wake up to their sense 
of duty and help a new organization bring 
about this most desired change? 

The first step taken by the International 
Spiritualists' Union to improve existing con- 
ditions, was to secure from the city council 
of Omaha, their home city, an amendment 
to the old city ordinance recognizing Spirit- 
ualism as a religion and exempting from 
license fee those holding certificates. 

The I. S. U. intends to push this work right 
along. All loyal Spiritualists, who feel as 
I do, the need of such an organization, should 



Correspondence 215 

come to the front and help the cause of Spir- 
itualism by joining the I. S. U., and so help 
to push this good work along until the courts 
all over the world will recognize Spiritualism 
as a religion, and no one will be ashamed to 
say, " I am a Spiritualist/' 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Omaha Bee, Omaha, July. 
The New Meeting Place. — The Interna- 
tional Spiritualists' Union has opened another 
place for services, Leavenworth Street, with 
Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., as pastor. 



From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III, 

July. 
To the Editor of the Spiritualist News: 

I am pleased to report to her many friends 
that Mrs. X. has recovered from a prolonged 
illness, and expects to be ready to take up 
the public work soon with renewed vigor, 
newed vigor. Mrs. X. is one of the old-time 
Spiritualists and has been conducting meet- 
ings here for years. She was forced to give 
up her hall and take a long-needed rest. 

The First Progressive Spiritualist Church, 
Harney Street. Services, Sunday 8 P. M., 
lectures and messages; Tuesday and Friday, 



216 SPIRITUALISM 

8 P. M., message service. First Tuesday in 
each month, 2:30 P. M., Ladies' Aid message 
service. 

If you would like to have a society organ- 
ized or some one to work for your society, 
write me. I want to hear also from lecturers 
and mediums who want engagements. 

Address Franklin A. Thomas, Omaha. 



CHAPTER IX 

A SOUND WARNING 

From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 

August. 
To the Editor of The Spiritualist News : 

A sound warning to all speakers, mediums, 
and fellow Spiritualists. 

All Spiritualists should practice what they 
preach. The Spiritualists of today have no 
room to talk about other religions or denom- 
inations being narrow or creed-bound, in 
their way of thinking, when they themselves 
are getting more and more that way every 
day. They are losing sight of the truth 
which Spiritualism teaches, " Do unto others 
as you would have others do unto you." This 
rule is the foundation stone of all true relig- 
ion, and the rock upon which our govern- 
ment is built. 

Two thousand years ago people could com- 
mune and communicate with the so-called 
dead. We read that spirits did materialize on 



218 SPIRITUALISM 

the mountain side and in other places in 
daylight in full life-form. Those spirits 
have been recognized by their friends and 
have talked and eaten with them as man with 
man. 

People would heal all manner of diseases 
by laying on of hands and by the use of 
magnetized articles, etc. Others would tell 
people their past, present and future lives. 

They had no Bible, prayer book or creed 
in their places of meeting as the churches 
have today. There was just one church in 
those days, and what a glorious time they 
did have! How much better if those condi- 
tions had continued to exist. 

Selfishness crept in and robbed them of 
the first true principle of their religious life, 
brotherly love. First one and then another 
thought that he had a better religion, more 
power, could do things a little better than 
any other brother. So he started a church of 
his own. As a result, there are today over 
two hundred and fifty different denomina- 
tions, each claiming that it is the only true 
church. 

The same is becoming true with Spiritual- 
ists. Unless something is done, there will be 
several different denominations among them 



A Sound Warning 219 

and they will be as far from the truth, as 
Spiritualism teaches it, as the North pole is 
from the South pole. 

Sixty-seven years ago modern Spiritualism 
made its advent into the world. This relig- 
ion did not come from any man-made book 
which had been handed down to a select few 
who could read and understand it. It came 
through raps and other manifestations that 
any child could hear and understand. By 
and by, first one, and then another broke 
away from the teachings of Spiritualism and 
started new cults to suit themselves. 

Now, co-workers and fellow Spiritualists, 
let us go home and look over our past lives 
and see what we are doing. Let us think 
for one minute, if you please, that there are 
other people in this world. Let us say to 
ourselves, "Well, who and what am I? Am 
I doing unto others as I would have them do 
unto me?" Never mind your neighbor's busi- 
ness, but pay strict attention to your own. 

Just for another moment, please, think of 
your past life. You know it better than any 
one else does. See if you have not done more 
and worse things yourself than are the things 
you have heard and know about a fellow 
Spiritualist. Yet you will never talk about 



220 SPIRITUALISM 

the mean things you have done or were think- 
ing of doing, but always of what a brother 
has done or is doing. Never mind him. You 
are the one you want to watch and care for. 
You can not live or die for him. You can 
only live and die for yourself. 

A true Spiritualist will never talk about 
another, for he knows that as he does unto 
a brother he does unto himself. He knows 
we are all low enough at the highest, without 
trying to degrade or disgrace ourselves by 
talking about one another. Oh, that all the 
workers would work in harmony, as they 
should do, and think only the very best 
thoughts toward all. For the thoughts that 
you are sending to a brother, good or bad, 
will certainly return to the sender. " Even 
as you sow, so will you reap." As long as 
one Spiritualist is trying to down another, 
Spiritualism will never progress as it should. 
No one is to blame but the Spiritualists 
themselves. 

Some hundred years ago there was a law 
passed in New York State, and it is still in 
force today, against reading any one's life 
or telling fortunes. That law holds good 
against Spiritualist mediums today. The 
Spiritualists of that State have been, and are 



A Sound Warning 221 

still, fighting it so they can do their work. 
In the legislature at Albany, N. Y., certain 
Spiritualists recently tried to get a bill 
through just to recognize the few in that 
State. No Spiritualists from other states 
would be allowed to work without first join- 
ing that association. The bill did not pass. 
It shows that some Spiritualists are selfish 
and would not allow another Spiritualist to 
work if they had it their way. 

Franklin A. Thomas, Omaha, Neb. 



From The Banner of Life, Boston, Mass. 
August 7. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas, the well-known lecturer 
and medium, who has been serving the 
Omaha societies for the last two seasons, 
expects to start East this fall. He would 
like to hear from societies or any one who 
would like to have a society organized. 



From The Omaha Bee, August 23. 
Against capital punishment — Rev. F. A. 
Thomas of the Second Progressive Spirit- 
ualist Church, Leavenworth Street, in his 
sermon yesterday advocated the abolition of 
capital punishment. 



222 SPIRITUALISM 

From The World-Herald, Omaha, August 23. 
Rev. F. A. Thomas, preaching before 
the Second Progressive Spiritualist Church, 
Leavenworth Street, Sunday evening, empha- 
sized the commandment, " Thou shalt not 
kill," by saying that the war is caused by 
many undeveloped spirits who have been 
wrongfully sent into the great beyond, whose 
influences return to this earth to make strife. 
He denounced capital punishment as a wrong 
for which all who tolerate it must some day 
atone. 



From The Omaha Daily Neivs, August 23. 
. The Rev. F. A. Thomas decried capital 
punishment as a violation of God's law, in a 
sermon at the Second Progressive Spiritual- 
ist Church last night. 

" When you send these people over before 
their time, perhaps some of you will say that 
you are rid of them," the Rev. Mr. Thomas 
said. " But you are not. You have placed 
them where by their very touch to man on 
the earth plane they make murders more 
numerous. These Spirits have impressed and 
taken possession of the leaders, monarchs, 
kings and rulers of the nations now at war," 
he declared. 



A Sound Warning 223 

" It is not at the judgment seat of God that 
a person who takes a human life is tried. 
That person will wear a stain on the soul- 
body until the spirit he took from a body is 
free. That is the price paid for the murder- 
ous act," he said. 



From The Omaha News, August 30. 

The Rev. F. A. Thomas, pastor of the 
Second Progressive Church, Leavenworth 
Street, in his sermon last night said that 
from 1496 B. c. until 1861 there were 227 
years of peace and 3,130 years of war. 

He said that this relative proportion be- 
tween war and peace would continue as long 
churches and bibles hold their present form. 

" The Christian Bible says that Jesus said, 
' But those mine enemies, which would not 
that I should reign over them, bring hither 
and slay them before me," (Luke xix:27), 
said Dr. Thomas. 

" As long as the bibles and churches exist 
in their present form there will be war." 



CHAPTER X 

WHY EVERY ONE SHOULD DEVELOP MEDIUMSHIP 

From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 
September. 

No human being can give birth to a Spirit. 
All that our parents do in bringing us into 
this world, is to give birth to our material 
body. At the birth of the body the Spirit of 
Life enters into it and the body becomes a 
living Soul. 

God does not create Spirits in some especial 
place away up in Heaven and then send one 
down to earth to live in some new-born babe : 
to live a certain life and meet a certain 
fate; then after death, damn it and send it 
to Hell to suffer forever and ever, just be- 
cause a certain man and woman thousands 
and thousands of years ago broke a com- 
mandment and were cursed for their sin, 
thus causing all mankind to be born in sin 
and death and banished from the presence of 
God forever. 



Development of Mediumship 225 

That is what we have been taught to 
believe. Also, to believe in a certain Man 
who was born of woman, begat by man, lived 
and suffered death at the hands of an angry 
mob because they did not understand him; 
that all we have to do is to repent, even at 
the eleventh hour, believe in Him as our 
Redeemer and no matter what we have done 
in the past, all will be forgiven us and we 
will be saved! Believing in anyone, or in 
the good works that some one has done, will 
not save you and me. In fact, no Spirit is 
ever lost or destroyed, but each one passes 
into spirit life and goes just to the place 
which it has prepared for itself while in 
earth life. The life each one lives here is 
the life his Spirit will live hereafter in the 
Spirit World. It will try to impress some 
one living in the earth life to do just as it 
did while it was in the earth life. 

We are each born into this body pure; as 
we grow we take on conditions of Spirits 
who, when on this plane, did the acts which 
we are influenced to do and thus break laws 
of men and Nature, which is called Sin. No 
one ever saw a child born who, when it first 
came into the world, could read or write, or 
who was born a murderer or a thief. 



226 SPIRITUALISM 

We are just what we have been taught, or 
have allowed ourselves to think, or to become. 
Every letter, thought or word has been used 
by some one else in the past, persons who 
have passed into Spirit life and who influence 
us to think and do as they did while in the 
body. Thus it is necessary that all persons 
should develop their Mediumship, that they 
may know what classes of Spirits are about 
them, using them, day by day. 

There are only two places — Heaven, 
vhich is all space — and earth. When we 
die our body, which is material, goes to the 
earth and our Spirit stays right here in the 
surrounding space, or Heaven. Therefore, 
there are all kinds of Spirits right in our 
midst who are trying to impress us, and who 
do impress us, to do exactly as they did while 
they were in the body, whether it be good or 
evil. 

Each one has within him his own Spirit, 
which is given him to use, and he will be held 
accountable for that use. According to the 
thoughts we think, are the Spirits we attract 
around us and who have control of us. We 
can either laugh or cry, do good or evil, or 
have Heaven or Hell right now on this earth, 
for we are living in one or the other every 



Development of Mediumship 227 

day of our lives. We are our own God and 
face the Judgment Bar of our deeds every 
time we do good or evil. 

Franklin A. Thomas, Omaha, Neb. 



From The World-Herald, September 4. 
Second Progressive Spiritualist, Leaven- 
worth Street, Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
pastor — Morning, 11, lecture and messages, 
subject, "God." Evening, 2:30 and 8, lec- 
ture and messages, subject, " The Birth of 
the Spirit into the Spirit World." Tuesday 
and Thursday, message services. Wednes- 
day, 2:30 P. M., Ladies' Aid message ser- 
vice. Friday, 2:30 and 8, class lecture. 



From The Nebraska State Journel, Lincoln, 
September 8. 

" There are no nude spirits in the spirit 
land," said the Rev. Mr. Thomas at the Spir- 
itualist meeting in Grand Army Hall last 
night. " They are clothed, not with material 
clothes, but with spiritual clothing, of the 
shade they wore on earth. They ride on 
horses in spirit land, that is, not flesh and 
blood horses. They are spirit horses." 

Dr. Thomas was preaching on the occupa- 
tion of spirits in spirit land. He contended 



228 SPIRITUALISM 

that what mortals do on earth their spirits 
will do in spirit land, progressed from bad to 
better. " When you are happy you are in 
Heaven. When vou are unhappy, you are 
in Hell." 

He affirmed that spirits in spirit land 
progressed from bad to better, from better to 
a higher state. If a sinner died, his spirit 
suffered in sin until it progressed beyond sin 
in spirit land. That joy and peace may come 
to one's spirit at once on entering the spirit 
life, one should become right with God on 
earth. 

The services began at 8 o'clock with the 
room more than half filled. Half an hour 
later the room was filled to the entrances and 
people were finding standing room only. The 
services were interrupted by the necessity of 
ushers increasing seating room. In the main 
the crowd was respectful and attentive, al- 
though statements of Dr. Thomas and his 
assistant concerning what they term " the 
truth " were strange enough at times to 
provoke laughter and to show that all pres- 
ent were not adherents of the church. 

A class organization for spiritual study 
was announced for Thursday afternoon at 
2 o'clock at Grand Army Hall, and a meeting 



Development of Mediumship 229 

for spirit manifestation at North Twentieth 
Street for Saturday evening. 



From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III., 
September. 

Dear Editor: I would like to say to the 
readers of your paper a few words in regard 
to the way Spiritualism is booming in Lin- 
coln, Neb. 

Last September there came to our city a 
stranger to all of us, except what we had 
read of his work in other parts of the 
country. He came from Omaha every Satur- 
day, held meetings Saturday and Sunday 
evenings, and on the seventh of December 
organized the First Spiritualist Church of 
Lincoln, and has been serving as pastor 
since. Except the first two evenings, the 
hall has been seated to its fullest capacity. 

On March 28th we celebrated the Sixty- 
seventh Anniversary of Modern Spiritualism. 
We had a nice program. Our pastor gave a 
full account of the origin of Spiritualism, 
early history and the progress it is making. 

It has often been said that Spiritualists 
can never hold together; they can if they get 
the right kind of a worker with them — as 
we have. I have been a Spiritualist all my 



230 SPIRITUALISM 

life and have attended meetings in other 
States, but never have I listened to such fine 
scientific lectures as Brother Thomas gives, 
and his messages are so convincing. He 
often gives full names. Long may the good 
Brother live to carry on the good work. 

P. S. K. 



From The Omaha Bee, September 11. 

Rev. Franklin A. Thomas of the Second 
Progressive Spiritualist Church has resigned 
as pastor and will travel as missionary at 
large for the International Spiritualists' 
Union. 



From The Omaha Bee, September 21. 

Rev. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas left 
this morning for Des Moines, the former 
to take up the new field of work as mission- 
ary at large for the International Spiritual- 
ists' Union, 



CHAPTER XI 

MY WORK AS A SPIRITUALIST, CONTINUED 

At Des Moines, Iowa. 

From The News, September 23. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., and 
Mrs. Thomas, arrived this morning from 
Omaha, Nebraska, after serving the various 
Spiritualist churches of that State for the 
past two years. 



At Chicago, 111. 

From The Daily News, October 2. 

PRIMITIVE CHRISTIAN 

Spiritualist Church 

Cottage Grove Ave. 

Sunday, October 3d, at 3:00 and 8.00 P. M. 

Rev. F. A. Thomas, of Des Moines, Iowa, 

Lecturer and Message Bearer 

Week nights — Wednesday and Friday 

— at 8 P. M. 



232 SPIRITUALISM 

At New York City. 

From The Spiritualist News, Chicago, III, 
December. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas writes from 
Brooklyn, N. Y. : In Your July issue you 
published an article from us, from Omaha, 
Nebraska, in which we said we would like 
to hear from any one who desired to have a 
society organized, or from any one who 
would like to work for a society. Have had 
several answers from this notice from va- 
rious parts of the country. 

On leaving Omaha the last of September, 
we went to Des Moines, Iowa, to fill an 
engagement. While there we had an urgent 
call to come to New York City, and were 
compelled to cancel all other engagements on 
our way East, except that while in Chicago 
we worked for the Primitive Christian Spir- 
itualist Church on Cottage Grove Avenue. 
Since arriving here have been kept busy 
every night working for different societies. 



At Newark, N. J. 

November 1st I organized the First Pro- 
gressive Spiritual Union Church of Newark, 
New Jersey, with twenty-eight members, 
with pastor and full board of members. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 233 

Would be pleased to hear from any one 
who would like to have a society organized. 



At Providence, R. I. 

From The Providence Journal, December 3. 
The Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., 
missionary at large for the International 
Spiritualists' Union, of Omaha, Nebraska, is 
visiting friends on Weybosset Street. 



From The Providence Journal, December 3. 

Rev. F. A. Thomas, D. S. S. 

Lecturer, Medium, Healer and Teacher 

Special Attention Given to Developing Classes 

and Organizing Societies. Will Attend 

Calls to Weddings and Funerals. 

Weybosset Street. 



From The Banner of Life, Boston, Mass., 
December 11. 
Providence, R. I. — The services held at 
Manhem Hall were of the usual interest. The 
increased attendance at the wigwam service 
at 1:30 was very gratifying; excellent re- 
marks were made by Rev. Mr. Thomas and 
others. The four o'clock circle was also 
largely attended; messages were given by 
Rev. Thomas and others. The discourse at 



234 SPIRITUALISM 

7:30 by Rev. Mr. Thomas, missionary at 
large for the International Spiritualists' 
Union, subject, " Who and Where is God? " 
was full of interest. 



From The Evening News, Providence, 
January 11, 1916. 

Spiritualist meeting, Weybosset Street, 
conducted by Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, 
D. S. S., missionary at large for the Inter- 
national Spiritualists' Union. — Services, 
2:30; conference, 4:40; messages, 7:30, lec- 
ture and messages, subject, " Why Everyone 
Should Develop Mediumship." 

International Spiritualists' Union 
Geo. Mackie, President. 
Dr. T. Z. Magarrell, Secretary. 



Omaha, Neb., May 15, 1916. 
To whom these presents may come, greeting : 

This is to certify that the Rev. Franklin 
A. Thomas is authorized by the Internationl 
Spiritualists' Union to organize Societies, 
Ordain Ministers, Commission Mediums, and 
to fully represent the International Spirit- 
ualists' Union in any State or Territory 
under the jurisdiction of the Union. 

Given under our hand and the Seal of the 



Spiritual Work, Continued 235 

International Spiritualists' Union, the day 
and date first above written. 

Thomas Z, Magarrell, Secretary. 
(SEAL) 



From Immotality, New York, N. Y., May 
27, 1916. 
Franklin A. Thomas, lecturer and organ- 
izer, has announced that he is open for en- 
gagements. Communications may be sent to 
Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., or care of 
"Immortality." 



At Brockton, Mass. 

From The Enterprise, Brockton June 1. 

Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S., pastor 
of the First Progressive Spiritualist Church 
of Omaha, Nebraska, arrived Wednesday 
from New York and is visiting friends on 
Belmont Street, and other friends of long 
standing, in the city. 



From Immortality, New York, June 3. 
How to Hold Circles for Developing 
Mediumship at Home. 
By Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S. Copy- 
right, 1916, 1920. 
Dr. Thomas says that he could see spirits 



236 SPIRITUALISM 

since early childhood and that in later years 
when he became interested in Spiritualism 
and realized his powers, he began to develop, 
and he published in twelve easy lessons this 
book of instructions, "How to Hold Circles 
for Developing Mediumship at Home. ,, 

He has now the second edition, revised and 
enlarged, of the above book, 87 pp., 12 mo., 
cloth bound, $2.00. 



CHAPTER XII 

ANOTHER UNJUST ARREST 

From Immortality, New York, June 3. 
Last week there came into this office Frank- 
lin A. Thomas, a worker for the cause of 
Spiritualism, who for some years has been 
lecturing and organizing societies throughout 
the country. The day previous to his advent 
into this office he had been released from jail. 
His description of the manner in which he 
was treated was enough to arouse the indig- 
nation of the most self-possessed person. In 
relating the treacherous and underhand 
methods of the police and the way in which 
his home was broken up — in principle equal 
to any Russian barbarity — this man actually 
wept. And it must be remembered that Mr. 
Thomas is a strong, tall, well-built man. Dur- 
ing his thirty-eight days' confinement in the 
Raymond Street jail in Brooklyn, he slept 
soundly but once, owing to the unbearable 
conditions of cold and dampness, for in clean- 



238 SPIRITUALISM 

ing the cells no particular care was taken to 
keep the blankets dry. The food also, he said, 
was unfit, except during times of inspection. 
Once a person gets into the clutches of these 
"servants of the law", he is no longer re- 
garded as a human being. 

This is what Mr. Thomas said regarding 
the "crime" for which he was convicted: 

On Wednesday, March 29, I was out, and 
on my return home found a woman in my 
parlor talking to my wife. As soon as she 
saw me she said: "Doctor, I have come to 
join your developing class." I replied to her: 
"I am not holding any developing class." 
"Well," she said, "I was just talking to your 
wife, who was telling me about her sister, 
who was operated on and w T as troubled with 
an adhesion, and her doctors had advised her 
to take massage treatment, which you were 
giving her, and how nicely she was getting 
along." 

The woman continued: "I have rheuma- 
tism in my knees. Can I get you to give me 
some massage treatments? I am a poor wid- 
ow and want treatment as cheap as possible. 
What will you charge me?" I answered: 
"Two dollars per treatment. I do not give 
any medicine or diagnose any case." Then I 



Second Unjust Arrest 239 

said to her: "You are a detective. I have 
seen you before ; you have been pointed out to 
me on the street as such, but I have forgot- 
ten your name. I have not treated anyone 
but my sister-in-law since I have been in 
Brooklyn, and before I give you massage I 
want to see what the law is in regard to such 
and will let you know." 

I called to see the Board of Health on Flat- 
bush Avenue, Brooklyn ; also the Kings Coun- 
ty Medical Association, Bedford Avenue, 
Brooklyn, gave them each one of my old mas- 
sage cards and asked if I would require a 
license to practice the same or did I have to 
have a diploma, or were there any laws 
against giving massage treatment. They in- 
formed me there were no laws against it. So 
when the woman came I told her this, and 
that I would treat her, but could not treat her 
in my parlor that day; so we went to her 
home, as she called it. 

I gave her general massage treatment on 
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, for which 
she paid me two dollars per treatment and 
engaged me to continue treatments the follow- 
ing week. When I called Monday she was 
not at home. Tuesday, also, she was not at 
home; after my waiting two hours she came 



240 SPIRITUALISM 

in and made an excuse, but wanted me to be 
sure to come the next day and bring one of 
my books which she would buy. 

I went the next day accordingly, and again 
she was not in, but a young man who intro- 
duced himself to me as her son, talked to me 
for about two hours on general topics. He 
said : " Doctor, it is a shame mother has kept 
you waiting all this time. She told me if she 
should keep you waiting today, to give you 
one dollar for your time and expense/' which 
he did. He then went out. I waited a while 
longer. Then the woman came in and asked 
for my book, paid for it, said she was too 
tired and had no time to take a treatment, 
but gave me a dollar and said she had told 
her son to give me the dollar so that I would 
not lose so much time and spend so much car 
fare for nothing. We talked a while then, 
she telling me how mean some of her folks 
were to her. They were interested in a large 
estate and would not settle, and she needed 
the money so much and didn't I think they 
were awful mean? She wanted to get mar- 
ried again as soon as she could get the money. 
She said: "Now, Doctor, I will come Satur- 
day and let you know just when I can take 
more treatments/' 



Second Unjust Arrest 241 

So Saturday she came and made an ap- 
pointment with my wife for Monday. She 
called at 10 a. m., as agreed, and her sup- 
posed son followed her in a few moments with 
a warrant for my arrest for fortune-telling 
and practicing medicine without a license. 

I was taken before a police judge, found 
guilty of fortune-telling, with one hundred 
dollars bond to keep the peace for one year, 
or ten days in jail, and having no money, I 
had to go to jail ; also for practicing medicine, 
three hundred dollars' bond to appear in Spe- 
cial Sessions Court, and not being able to get 
bail, went to jail to await trial. At the trial 
I was fined fifty dollars or fifteen days in jail, 
so I was in jail, in all, thirty-eight days. 

I had no sign out, nor did I advertise in any 
way. I do not smoke, chew, drink, gamble, 
dance or play cards, and have led a clean, 
pure life. I have been thus persecuted be- 
cause I am a Spiritualist worker. 
* * * * 

If Mr. Thomas had been a rich Wall Street 
gambler or had been willing to pay "graft," 
otherwise known as " protection money," he 
probably would not have been molested. But 
you see, he was only a poor Spiritualist doing 
his duty. 



242 SPIRITUALISM 

Now, readers, you see the importance of co- 
operating with this publication, whose mis- 
sion is to carry on an energetic campaign 
against such persecutions as related above 
and to expose the evils of our present day 
society. Will you help us? Join the ranks 
of " Immortality " and encourage others to 
do likewise — help increase the circulation of 
this paper. — Editor. 

I feel that my experience in "the Brooklyn 
detention pens, the worst in the world," as 
they were called by the Chief Magistrate, was 
an easy one, as compared with that of many 
others who have suffered for the cause of 
Spiritualism. There seemed to be at this time 
a mania for arresting mediums: they were 
often taken while they were on their plat- 
forms conducting Sunday services — no one 
escaped this outrage. Many of them, having 
committed no crime, were retained in these 
prisons for months at a time, for no other 
reason than for being Spiritualist workers. 

If a healer were arrested, it was for prac- 
ticing medicine without license; if a medium 
who gave readings, fortune-telling was the 
charge; if a speaker, he was arraigned for 
disorderly conduct. Every person arrested 



Second Unjust Arrest 243 

was required to give a heavy bond to keep the 
peace for a year. 

A lieutenant of the police force of Newark, 
New Jersey, boasted that in one year he made 
forty-five arrests for witchcraft, among the 
Spiritualists.— F. A. T. 



CHAPTER XIII 

WHY CAPITAL PUNISHMENT SHOULD BE 
ABOLISHED 

From Immortality, New York City, June 10. 

You perhaps who have followed the re- 
ligions of the past and the present may have 
bought your seat in heaven by paying liber- 
ally to the church, and may have come into 
that condition in which you would be quite 
capable of sitting upon the throne in your 
bliss, playing a golden harp as you have been 
taught. Perhaps in such a condition you 
would have the power to see below into that 
condition of hell of which you have been told, 
and there behold your fellow-rnan in all the 
agony that could be thought of, just because 
he violated man-made laws. 

" Thou shalt not kill " has been taught 
for hundreds of years, and yet by law you 
have made it possible to kill on flimsy pretexts 
and with unseemly haste. All through the 
ages past man has been killing man — man 



Capital Punishment Abolished 245 

has been committing murder, never stopping 
to think whether it was right or wrong. Be- 
cause we had a law, we thought it was right, 
just and true. This practice has ever been 
endorsed by those in the pulpit, and no doubt 
you will find some of them yet who will say 
that we have a right to capital punishment, 
that we have a right to shoot, to hang, or to 
put out of the body by electricity, those men 
who disobey the laws we have made. 

We are going to speak the words of truth, 
if ever truth is spoken — men have failed to 
fulfill the mission of the Christ, they have 
failed to come in close touch with men. You 
must pay the penalty for every man and 
woman you send out before their time — it is 
not that spirit alone, that must suffer in dark- 
ness until his natural passing out, you must 
suffer also. If one of your citizens breaks the 
laws of your State, you have a just right to 
take that citizen and place him where he is 
unable to do further injury. It is your right 
and your privilege to do this ; but beyond this 
you have no right, for that right belongs to 
God alone and you are interfering with the 
laws of God when you condemn your fellow 
man to death before his time. 

When you send these people over before 



246 SPIRITUALISM 

their time, perhaps some of you will say, 
when you see that their bodies have become 
lifeless and cold, " We are rid of them." Are 
you sure? You never made a greater mis- 
take than when you say you are rid of them. 
Do you know you have just put them where 
they can do you the most damage? Do you 
know that you have just placed that fellow 
being where, by his very touch to man on the 
earth plane, he makes murders become more 
numerous? Do you know that the men and 
women sent out of the body with that re- 
vengeful thought (for none go otherwise) can 
do more damage than if you let them run 
wild through your city streets? You say, " I 
don't believe it." I am here to tell you that 
this is the cause of these bloody wars. Do 
any of you know this? Have the religions in 
the past taught you? 

You are all trying to find out what nation 
is in the wrong in this war. None, as far as 
earthly conditions are concerned; but the 
spirits that have gone out of the body have 
been coming in close contact with men, have 
impressed and taken possession of the leaders, 
monarchs, kings and rulers of the nations. 
These mighty leaders of today have been 
under the power of some spirit sent out of the 



Capital Punishment Abolished 247 

body before his time. You say, " What, our 
kings and monarchs under the control of un- 
developed spirits? " I say they are, and be- 
cause of that we have wars today. Other- 
wise, men would be capable of coming to- 
gether ; man would be able to consult with his 
fellow man and bring about the conditions 
that would be the best for all mankind, in- 
stead of the destruction of life and property. 
What is the good of your schools and colleges, 
your magnificent cathedrals, if you can not 
stay the hand of crime without committing 
crime? 

There is no law that can be made by man, 
that is ever right when it takes from a man 
his life, given to him by God. It is murder 
in the highest degree. There is a world into 
which you are going that will hold you re- 
sponsible. It is not at the judgment seat of 
your God that you will be tried; but, for 
every person who is hanged, or thrown out of 
the body by whatever power you make possi- 
ble, your spirit body will be scarred, and no 
judge in the world can erase those scars. No 
blood of a thousand Christs could wipe one 
stain from your spirit body. You must bear 
this condition year after year until every one 
of those spirits has become free and each 



248 SPIRITUALISM 

spirit has reached that condition in which he 
is capable of living right. Until then you 
will pay the price of your murderous act, be- 
cause you can not make a law on this earth 
that can force God and Nature to change 
God's laws which are unchangeable, and Na- 
ture's laws are God's laws. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XIV 

My Work as a Spiritualist, Continued 

From The Enterprise, Brockton, June 10. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas 

Lecture and Messages, Sons of Veterans 
Hall, Colonial Theatre entrance, Sunday, 
June 11. Conference 2:30. Circles 4 and 7. 



From The Times, Brockton, June 10. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, late pastor of 
the First Progressive Spiritualist Church of 
Omaha, Nebraska, will speak Sunday after- 
noon and evening under the auspices of the 
Occult Student Spiritualist Association in 
Sons of Veterans Hall, Colonial Theatre en- 
trance. 



From The Times, Brockton, June 12. 
Rev. Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, pastor, con- 
ducted both Sunday services at the Occult 
Student Spiritualist Association meetings in 



250 SPIRITUALISM 

Sons of Veterans Hall. The evening subject 
was " God Did Not Create Hell." 

Dr. Thomas said in part: " According to 
the Bible, there was only one creation. In the 
beginning God created the Heaven and the 
earth. Everything that God created was 
good. According to St. John's Gospel, ' all 
things were made by Him and without Him 
was not anything made that was made/ 

" After Adam and Eve had eaten of the 
forbidden fruit of the tree of the Garden of 
Eden, as to which He had commanded them, 
saying, ' Thou shalt not eat of it/ He pun- 
ished them by driving them from the garden. 
\ Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow 
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. 
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth 
to thee. And thou shalt eat the herb of the 
field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
bread.' 

" This was after God had created all. Had 
God created Hell, He would have spoken of it 
in His creation, the same as He spoke of all 
the other things He created. God did not cre- 
ate Hell; man has created all the hell there 
is, right here on earth; and when he does 
wrong he suffers for it right here on earth." 



Spiritual Work, Continued 251 

From The Brockton Times, Brockton, June 17 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas will conduct 
Spiritualists' services Sunday afternoon at 
2:30, 4 and 7 on Belmont Street. 



From the Brockton Times, Brockton, June 17. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas will conduct 
Spiritualist meetings on Belmont Street Tues- 
day and Friday evenings. He will be assisted 
by several prominent Spiritualists. 



From the Brockton Times, June 19. 

" Jesus Was a Medium," the topic dis- 
cussed by Rev. Franklin A. Thomas Sunday 
night on Belmont Street, provided much in- 
terest to members of the Spiritualist denom- 
ination. He said in part : 

" Jesus was a great medium. He first 
taught the philosophy and then he demon- 
strated the phenomena of mediumship. He 
said God is a spirit and they that worship 
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. 
When Philip, one of his disciples, said unto 
him, ' Lord, shew us the Father, and it suf- 
ficeth us/ Jesus saith unto him, ' I have been 
so long time with you and yet hast thou not 
known me, Philip? He that hath seen me 
hath seen the Father and how sayeth thou 



252 SPIRITUALISM 

then shew us the Father.' When He was de- 
manded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom 
of God should come He answered them, and 
said, ' The Kingdom of God cometh not with 
observation, neither shall they say, lo here, 
or lo there; for behold the Kingdom of God 
is within you.' 

" He demonstrated His mediumship in dif- 
ferent ways. He told the people what they 
were thinking about when they were trying 
to deceive Him. He told people where they 
would find their lost cattle, and His disciples 
where they could find a colt tied to the gate. 
When Jesus was baptized He saw the heavens 
opened up and the spirit of God descending 
like a dove upon Him, and immediately the 
spirit drove Him into the wilderness forty 
days, tempted of Satan; and He was with 
wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto 
Him. 

" Jesus took Peter, James and John, his 
brother, and brought them up into a high 
mountain apart and was transfigured before 
them, and His face shone as the sun and His 
raiment was white as the light, and there ap- 
peared unto them Moses and Elias talking 
with Him. He also materialized to His disci- 
ples after He was put to death. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 253 

" After Jesus did all the work He could do, 
He said, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he 
that believeth on me, the works that I do shall 
he do also and greater works than these shall 
he do, because I go to my Father.' " 



In and around Boston. 

From The Banner of Life, July 1. 
Boston — Harmony Hall, Washington 
Street. Meetings Tuesday and Thursday, 
June 20th and 22d, well attended. Among 
psychics and speakers present was Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas. Sunday, June 25th, 
11 :30 a. m., 3 p. m., 8 p. m., Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas was one of the speakers and message 
bearers. 



From The Banner of Life, July 1. 
Boston — First Bible Spiritual meetings, 
Tremont Street, June 25th, Sunday after- 
noon. A very pleasant and enjoyable service. 
Our loved ones seemed to come a bit closer at 
this afternoon circle and many beautiful 
thoughts were expressed. The old, old songs 
that our mothers loved were sung, and many 
beautiful flowers were brought that seemed to 
say, " Fve come to add my bit of brightness 
to make conditions perfect." The evening 



254 SPIRITUALISM 

was given to our message bearers, Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas and others. 



From The Banner of Life, July 15. 
Boston — First Bible Spiritual meetings, 
Tremont Street. Friday afternoon healing 
and message circles are growing in numbers 
and interest and our healers are doing good 
work. Many new faces are seen each week. 
July 9th, afternoon meeting opened by Dr. 
Franklin A. Thomas, scripture reading and 
prayer. Our thought prayer was sent out by 
the audience for a brother, and we hope he 
may soon be with us again. Our evening 
meeting was opened by Dr. Thomas, followed 
by message work of the highest order. Our 
hall was well filled, making it seem real that 
our fall and winter work had again com- 
menced. 



From The Banner of Life, July 15. 
Boston — Bible Spiritual Society, Tre- 
mont Street. In the afternoon and evening 
meetings Dr. Franklin A. Thomas was one 
of the speakers and message bearers. 



From The Banner of Life, July 22. 
Boston > — First Bible Spiritual meetings, 



Spiritual Work, Continued 255 

July 16. Dr. Thomas opened these meetings. 
These morning meetings are proving very in- 
teresting. Afternoon meeting opened with 
song service, Dr. Thomas's reading of scrip- 
ture, and prayer, also messages. Our presi- 
dent being out of the city, the services were 
all conducted by our co-worker, Dr. Thomas. 



From Spiritual Science, Chicago, Ill. y August. 

Dear Editor: I have been so busy getting 
my book of instruction, " How to Hold Circles 
for Developing Mediumship at Home," pub- 
lished, that I have neglected sending in any 
report of the progress that has been made 
since I was here in 1893 working for the 
Society on Washington Street. The president 
has been called home and one by one the old 
workers and those who helped to fill this hall 
have passed on. Two weeks ago I was in 
the same old hall and saw only one in that 
large audience that I knew. 

Meetings are being held, and will continue 
all summer, in several different places. There 
are over one hundred mediums here. They 
all turn out and go from meeting to meeting, 
the president of the Societies always calls on 
all the mediums and they work for the Soci- 
ety free of charge. Meetings are being held 



256 SPIRITUALISM 

every afternoon and evening through the 
week, Sunday morning, afternoon and eve- 
ning in different places, although several 
workers have closed their meetings and have 
left the city for the summer to attend the 
camp meetings. 

Am sorry to report the largest part of the 
ground at Onset has been sold and only the 
co-workers are holding meetings there this 
season; camp meetings have been held there 
for forty years. The writer served that camp 
in the nineties. It was among one of the 
best camps in the United States. He has just 
been holding meetings at Attleboro and 
Brockton, Mass. 

Mrs. Thomas and I are now living in 
Boston, Mass. 



From The Banner of Life, August 5. 

Our camp had a very successful day on 
Sunday. Our 12 o'clock meeting was more 
than usually well attended. Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas was one of the speakers for the day. 
All of the mediums were very interesting and 
the messages were all recognized. 



From The Banner of Life, August 5. 
Boston — Harmony Hall, Washington St. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 257 

Soul thought meetings. Meetings Tuesday 
and Thursday, July 25th and 27th, were both 
well attended. Dr. Franklin A. Thomas was 
a speaker and message bearer. 



From The Banner of Life, August 12. 
It was an ideal day at Unity Camp Sun- 
day, August 6. A goodly number gathered 
at 11:30 for the conference, under the direc- 
tion of the Vice President. Rev. F. A. 
Thomas was one of the speakers. At 4:30 
p. M., remarks and messages by Rev. Mr. 
Thomas. Good sized audiences were present 
at each meeting and all enjoyed the remarks 
and messages by the different speakers. 



From The Banner of Life, August 26. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas wishes to an- 
nounce that he has moved to larger quarters, 
on Tremont Street, where he will hold meet- 
ings Sunday 11 A. M., 2:30 and 7:30 P. M., 
also daily 2:30 and 7:30 P. M. The Banner 
of Life will be on sale at all meetings. All 
speakers and mediums are welcome. 



From The Banner of Life, August 26. 
Boston — Harmony Hall, Washington St. 
Meetings Tuesday and Thursday, August 



258 SPIRITUALISM 

15th and 17th, 3 P. m. Among the psychics 
in attendance was Dr. Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XV 

WHY NOT? 

From The Banner of Life, August 26. 
Dear Editor: — 

Sunday, August 13th, was Banner of Life 
Day at Unity Camp. We were much sur- 
prised as we sat on the platform and listened 
to Mr. and Mrs. Berry plead with the Spirit- 
ualists to support the Banner of Life. We 
know there are hundreds of Spiritualists in 
Boston who do not take this paper. It is a 
sad thing to think that they do not take any 
more interest in the Cause of Spiritualism 
than they do. How can we expect outsiders 
to be interested if we are not? 

As we go from meeting to meeting we see 
the Banner of Life on sale, but seldom hear 
announcements to that effect. Still these same 
societies send their announcements and re- 
ports of their meetings, and expect a column 
or so published of their doings, when really 
it is one big advertisement for their societies, 



260 SPIRITUALISM 

and where does the Banner profit by those 
advertisements, and whom do these reports 
interest? Let us live according to the teach- 
ings of Spiritualism — " Do unto others as 
you would have others do unto you," and help 
those who are working to promote the Cause 
that all true Spiritualists love. 

Spiritualists above all others should have 
a live Paper and the only way we can do so 
is for every Spiritualist to subscribe for and 
support such a paper. If Mr. Berry would 
use the blue pencil more it would help the 
Banner. The average man wants to know 
more about the Philosophy of Spiritualism 
and the truths thereof, and what knowledge 
does he obtain from all these society reports 
of the doing of Mr. and Mrs. Blank, or of 
the activities of Rev. So-and-so? Would it 
not be better to use this space teaching the 
people the Philosophy and Truths of Spirit- 
ualism? Give us something in your paper 
that will be of interest to all. Teach us how 
to live to be better men and women, so that 
when we pass into the Spirit World our 
spirits will be able to come into contact with 
those who are still living on the earth plane 
and seeking the Truth. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



Why Not? 261 

There is much truth in what our friend 
and well-wisher says. The large amount of 
space given each week to the reports of local 
societies is somewhat expensive considering 
the amount of money accruing from the pub- 
lishing of the accounts of the meetings, and 
yet it caters to a large number no doubt. 

What our brother states regarding the 
appreciation of Spiritualistic literature is 
true in every word. If investigators as well 
as believers would buy more books, subscribe 
for the Banner more liberally, these persons 
would become better Spiritualists and would 
receive far more results from the phenomena 
as well as the philosophy of Spiritualism. 
Let us hope these words may be more fully 
heeded in the future. 

Editor Banner of Life. 



From The Banner of Life, August 26. 
Boston — First Bible Spiritual Church. 
Sunday, August 20, fine meetings all day. 
Good talent and music, beautiful flowers 
helped to make it a day long to be remem- 
bered. We have been in the same hall so 
long for our services that we feel at home 
and the conditions were fine. At morning 
circle many good thoughts were expressed and 



262 SPIRITUALISM 

messages of comfort given. Afternoon circle, 
although we began early, time did not allow 
us to call on every medium, but it was a 
glorious meeting. Evening, another hour 
well spent and many went away cheered and 
encouraged by the presence of their loved 
ones. We were assisted by Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas. 



From The Science of Life, Hamburgh, New 

York, September 1, 1916. 
Editor Science of Life: 

Great changes have taken place here since 
I worked for the society, in Harmony Hall, 
Washington Street, in December, 1893. The 
president and all the old time workers have 
answered the call and gone home. Although 
we miss their physical forms, their spiritual 
forms are often seen and felt by those who 
attend the old meeting places where they 
used to love to work while in the mortal body. 
Then there were only a few meeting places 
and but few workers. Today there are fifty 
meeting places, besides many places where 
private circles are being held, and over one 
hundred mediums. 

We opened our hall, Tremont Street, 
August 23rd. It is open all day as a read- 



Why Not? 263 

ing room. We have many strangers calling 
every day inquiring about Spiritualism and 
asking about our literature. Am sorry to 
say we have so little reading matter on hand. 
If any of the readers of Science of Life have 
any to be given away, please write to us. 

We have so many good workers here it 
gives us a chance to serve out of town soci- 
eties. All reports show good progress is being 
made. There are many living in and around 
Boston who have friends or relatives killed 
in the European war that are manifesting 
themselves to their loved ones here, to people 
who never attended a Spiritualistic meeting 
before. Spiritualism is having the greatest 
boom in its history. Although we are always 
busy, still we are willing to help other soci- 
eties all we can. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Banner of Life, September 23. 
Boston — The Spiritualists' Union Church, 
Rev. F. A. Thomas, pastor, Tremont Street, 
opened to the public their hall which is on 
street level, Sunday morning, August 23rd. 
Meetings are being held Sunday 11 A. M., 
2:30 and 7:30 P. M., and daily 2:30 and 7:30 
p. M. The meetings are well attended, they 



264 SPIRITUALISM 

are opened with song service, poem, invoca- 
tion and reading Declaration of Principles, 
followed by song, lecture and messages, clos- 
ing with New Doxology and benediction. 

Our object is to teach the people that there 
is something more in Spiritualism than giv- 
ing out or receiving messages; that our 
happiness in the spirit world depends upon 
our every-day life — the life we live while 
we are in the body. Receiving spirit mes- 
sages does not teach us how to make the 
condition right so that our dear ones may 
be able to come in at all times and manifest 
to us in our homes or through the mediums, 
for as we think so do we attract them to us, 
and what we attract to us we receive. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XVI 

SPIRITUALISM A RELIGION 

From Spiritual Science, Chicago, Illinois, 
October. 

Dear Editor: Will you allow me space in 
your valuable paper to answer some questions 
that have been asked by Spiritualists all over 
this country? 

Question. — You say Spiritualism is a re- 
ligion. If so, why have the various state 
and city authorities passed such laws that 
you are considered a criminal, are arrested 
and fined, when you give spiritual advice or 
worship your God according to the dictates 
of your own conscience? All other denomina- 
tions can worship how, when, where and 
whatever they please, while Spiritualists can 
not. 

Answer. — What is " everybody's business 
is nobody's " is an old saying. It is true 
today as ever. The Spiritualists are wholly 
to blame for this condition. They have been 



266 SPIRITUALISM 

and are still going on as unconcerned as if 
nothing had happened, not seeming to care 
for their own welfare or that of their fellow 
Spiritualists, and still they wonder why they 
are being persecuted and prosecuted, called 
fortune tellers, or " workers of the Devil." 

Look at the Christian Scientists, New 
Thought people, and the many other practi- 
tioners of various modern " isms/' all 
branches from Spiritualism; see how they 
are progressing. It is because they are 
organized. 

Spiritualism is the only religion on earth 
that proves there is no death. Whenever the 
Spiritualists will all unite and work for their 
cause, then Spiritualism will grow. There 
are the National Spiritual Association, Na- 
tional Spiritual Alliance, the Fraternal Order 
of Spiritualists, and the International Spirit- 
ualists' Union — all of these are Spiritual- 
ists, and yet some of them are watching and 
waiting to find fault with the others all the 
time. It is just the same way with their 
papers. If you belong to one of these organ- 
izations and send in a report to a paper 
connected with another organization, as to 
the progress of the work in another part of 
the country, they will not publish it. They 



Spiritualism A Religion 267 

will say, " Let us work together for the 
children ! " 

How can they, when they do not respect 
the old Spiritualists? Go into their meetings. 
If one medium gives a little better message 
than some others, they are jealous. Many a 
time we have heard Spiritualists themselves 
say if they did not get a message they would 
not go again, not considering there may be 
a hundred people in the hall and among them 
many strangers who were never in a Spirit- 
ualistic meeting before. These same Spirit- 
ualists will go to church Sunday after Sun- 
day and receive no message, and yet be satis- 
fied. 

Fellow Spiritualists, we have no right to 
talk about other churches or creeds being 
selfish and narrow-minded, when we are 
worse than they are; for they have united 
and are all working together, while we are 
like a lot of sheep running wild. There are 
millions of Spiritualists in the United States. 
Why, then, have we not churches in every 
city? Why have we no colleges and schools 
for the education of our youth and children? 
Why have we no workers drawing a salary? 
Why have we not homes for our aged 
workers? Why do we allow state and city 



268 SPIRITUALISM 

to pass such laws as to compel us to worship 
the way they wish or not at all? 

Because we are not organized as we should 
be. It is getting worse and worse year after 
year. Unless we respect our religion, how 
can we expect others to respect us? Let us 
act now. It is only a matter of time for 
laws to be passed forbidding mediums to give 
a spiritual reading or to give messages from 
their rostrums, even as is the case now in 
some cities we know. Unless we defend our- 
selves how can we expect to progress? 

Spiritualists! wake up and do your duty! 
Exercise your rights as free men! Defend 
your religion! The eyes of the world are 
upon you. Let us all unite and demand our 
religious liberties and rights. Let us make 
laws to protect ourselves. 

Look at the Catholic convention held in 
New York City last month. They have pub- 
lished in all the papers of that city that they 
are being persecuted and prosecuted and 
deprived of their religious liberties. Do 
you ever see an account in a Spiritualist 
paper where Spiritualists demand their relig- 
ious rights? No; because they are not organ- 
ized and are afraid to speak. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



Spiritualism A Religion 269 

From The Banner of Life, October 26. 

Boston — The Spiritualists Union Church, 
Tremont Street, Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, 
pastor. Regular services are held Sunday, 
11 A. M., 2:30 and 7:30 P. M., and every day 
at 2:30 and 7:30 P. M., with good attendance. 
Tuesday and Thursday evenings are devoted 
to psychometric readings. On November 5th 
and 12th we will have with us a brother co- 
worker from Olneyville, Rhode Island, as 
speaker and message bearer, as the pastor 
has engagements out of the city on those two 
dates. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Banner of Life, November 18. 

Boston — The Spiritualists Union Church, 
Tremont Street, Rev. F. A. Thomas, pastor. 
The last two Sundays we have had a brother 
co-worker, as announced, as speaker and 
message bearer, the hall being well filled, the 
pastor serving societies out of town. Our 
hall is open all day and we have many 
strangers calling and asking for Spiritual- 
istic literature. If any readers of the Ban- 
ner have any books on Spiritualism to be 
given way we would be pleased to hear from 
them. Franklin A. Thomas. 



270 SPIRITUALISM 

From The Banner of Life, November 18. 

Quincy — First Spiritualist Society, Elec- 
tra Hall, Johnson Building. Sunday evening 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas of Boston was with 
us and he gave a very interesting lecture on 
Spirituality; his messages were excellent and 
all present enjoyed the meeting. The Pres- 
ident gave a few messages in her cheerful 
manner. 



From The Banner of Life, December 16. 

Boston — The Spiritualists Union Church, 
Tremont Street, Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, 
pastor. 

We are having good attendance, so many 
strangers. We wish Billy Sunday would hold 
his meetings here the year round. He is 
certainly waking the people up and they are 
begining to open their eyes and search for 
the Truth, not belief. They want to know 
facts. The difference between Spiritualists 
and those who follow the teachings of other 
religions is, other religions teach a belief in a 
continued life while Spiritualists have had it 
proven to them as a fact. Spiritualists know, 
others believe. Next Sunday, December 17th, 
we will have with us again a brother co- 
worker, as speaker and message bearer at 



Spiritualism A Religion 271 

the three services. The pastor has an engage- 
ment out of the city on that day. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE BIBLE AND WITCHCRAFT 

From The Banner of Life, January 6, 1917. 

" Anyone who firmly believes the Bible to 
be the inspired word of God and preaches 
what he finds in it, and who believes that his 
theology harmonizes beautifully with the 
teaching of the Bible from cover to cover, be- 
lieves in murdering/' said the Rev. F. A. 
Thomas last night to his congregation on 
Tremont Street. 

" I refuse to accept the Bible as a moral 
guide because it recognizes as a verity the 
delusion of witchcraft and punishes with 
death the so-called witches. The God that 
inspired the account of Saul's interview with 
the witch of Endor was as thorough a be- 
liever in witchcraft as the most superstitious 
crone of the Middle Ages. Manasseh used 
enchantments and witchcraft and dealt with 
a familiar spirit and with wizards (2 Chron. 
33:6; 1 Sam. 15:23; Micah 5:12; Nahum 



The Bible and Witchcraft 273 

3:4; Gal. 5:20). In all those citations the 
reality of witchcraft is admitted. 

The decline in the belief of wizards and 
witches denotes a decline of faith in the 
Bible. Until a very recent period, those who 
professed to believe in the divinity of the 
Bible also professed to believe in the reality 
of witchcraft. " Giving up witchcraft/' says 
John Wesley, " is in effect giving up the 
Bible." (Journal, 1768). Sir William Black- 
stone says, " To deny the possibility, nay — 
actual existence — of witchcraft and sorcery, 
is at once flatly to contradict the revealed 
work of God in various passages, both of the 
Old and New Testaments." Sir Matthew 
Hale says, " The Bible leaves no doubt as to 
the reality of witchcraft and the duty of 
putting its subjects to death." " Thou shalt 
not suffer a witch to live." (Ex. 22:18). " A 
man, also a woman that hath a familiar 
spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put 
to death." (Lev. 20:27). 

0! that I could bring to view the suffer- 
ing and death these texts have caused! Mil- 
lions have died because of them: one 
thousand were burned at Como in one year; 
eight hundred were burned at Wurzburg in 
one year; five hundred perished at Geneva 



274 SPIRITUALISM 

in three months; eighty were burned in a 
single fire at Leith; sixty were hanged at 
Suffolk ; three thousand were legally executed 
during one session of Parliament, while thou- 
sands more were put to death by mobs; Reny, 
a Christian judge, executed eight hundred; 
six hundred were burned by one Bishop at 
Bansburg ; Bouget burned six hundred at St. 
Cloud; thousands were put to death by the 
Lutherans of Norway and Sweden; Catholic 
Spain butchered thousands ; Presbyterians 
were responsible for the death of four thou- 
sand in Scotland; fifty thousand were sen- 
tenced to death during the reign of Francis 
I ; seven thousand died at Treves, the number 
killed in Paris in a few months is declared 
to have been " almost infinite; " Dr. Sfrenger 
places the total number of executions for 
witchcraft in Europe at 9,000,000. 

For centuries witchfires burned in nearly 
every town in Europe, and this Bible text, 
" Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," was 
the torch that kindled them. Four hundred 
were burned in Toulouse in one day. Think 
of it! Four hundred women guilty of no 
crime, save that which exists in the diseased 
imaginations of their accusers ; four hundred 
mothers, wives and daughters taken out upon 



The Bible and Witchcraft 275 

the public squares, chained to posts, the 
fagots piled around them, and burned to 
death. See them writhing in the flames, listen 
to their piteous shrieks ! Four hundred voices 
raised in one wild chorus of agony, and all 
because the Bible says, " Thou shalt not 
suffer a witch to live." 

Only a few years ago in the province of 
Novgorod, Russia, a woman was burned for 
witchcraft and while she was burning, the 
mob, led by self-styled Christian priests stood 
around her singing praises to God, their 
strains blending with the shrieks of this 
dying woman, dying because the Bible says, 
" Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." 

And in our own America the blighting 
influence of this delusion and this brutal 
statute has been felt. With the soil of our 
great Republic is mingled the dust of mur- 
dered women, murdered because the Bible 
says, " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." 
Last April Rev. Mrs. D. of Newark, New 
Jersey, a Spiritualist Minister and Medium, 
was arrested and tried before a Christian 
judge. After this verse was read, " Thou 
shalt not suffer a witch to live," Mrs. D. 
was forced to leave the State, although her 
husband was a business man, and her sons 



276 SPIRITUALISM 

and daughters were all married and living 
there ! 



CHAPTER XVIII 

MASSACRES ON BIBLE AUTHORITY 

From Science of Life, Hamburgh, N. Y., 
January 16. 
Editor Science of Life : 

As a reader of Science of Life, and a co- 
worker of Spiritualism, I ask you for a little 
space in your most interesting paper. Re- 
garding the issue of December 30th, I refer 
to the item of Massacres on the Bible Au- 
thority. It states very firmly that one who 
believes in the Bible believes in murdering. 

I am not one to criticize the work of an- 
other, but, as the head of Harmony Spiritual 
Church, Buffalo, N. Y., have received many 
congratulations and encouraging remarks by 
referring to the Bible and stating the facts 
that Spiritualism is not something new, but 
that it is older than the Bible. 

Now, when principles are touched, I feel 
it my duty to get more information. As for 
believing in the Bible from cover to cover, 



278 SPIRITUALISM 

it is most impossible, and one must under- 
stand the depth of Spiritualism (1 Cor. : 12; 
Eph. 2:11; Is. 2:5). It is true enough, we 
cannot receive gifts from the Bible, but we 
can take many facts, as our daily surround- 
ings show, and which the Bible holds before 
us as an inspiration received by the writers 
at that time. And as for witchcraft, and 
the many lives sacrificed, I am sure one 
could not take the present war as witchcraft, 
with all the innocent ones being sacrificed, 
and yet the many lives are taken away with- 
out even giving some a chance. 

"Thou shalt not kill/' and "Love thy 
neighbor as thyself." That does not seem 
much like murdering, to believe in that. 

We have a great deal of jealousy and 
hatred around us today that is continually 
drawing one after another into crime, and 
youth robbed of its knowledge (2 Cor. 8:7). 
Hearts are filled with hatred and jealousy, 
whether witch or no witch. Lives are taken 
today, and yet the Bible states this would 
come (Jer. 5:46). 

I am not orthodox, but am working earn- 
estly and hard for Spiritualism and have 
added many to my congregation by giving 
the facts that the Bible holds. 



Massacres on Bible Authority 279 

There is good and bad in all, and, because 
the fruits are not all alike, that does not 
mean that the tree is bad; let us take the 
good out of everything, the bad will come of 
itself. 

Trusting to see this soon in print, I pray 
to God and the spirit world that light may 
be given (1 John :1), that we may understand 
the word of God, for the word of man is only 
promising. I am, and expect to remain, a 
worker for true Spirituality, and president 
of Harmony Spiritual Church. 

J. G. W. 

In the above criticism of " Massacres on 
Bible Authority/' the brother has quoted 
Bible texts that have no application whatever 
to the subject, he has even quoted a verse that 
is not in the chapter he names. 

F. A. T. 

From The Banner of Life, January 20. 

Dear Editor: In regard to an address in 
the Banner of Life last week, will you please 
publish the Poem? This Inspirational Poem 
came to me while I was in Galveston, Texas, 
1903, and was published in the June issue of 
the Spiritual Reformer and Humanitarian, 
Galveston, Texas. 



280 SPIRITUALISM 

Judge Not 
In speaking of another's fault, 

Pray don't forget your own; 
Remember, those with homes of glass 

Should never throw a stone. 
If one has nothing else to do 

But talk of those who sin, 
'Tis better to commence at home, 

And from that point begin. 

We have no right to judge a man 

Until he's fairly tried; 
Should we not like the way he does 

We know the world is wide. 
Each may have faults, and who has not? 

The old as well as young ; 
Perhaps we may for aught we know 

Have fifty to their one. 

I'll tell you of a better plan, 

You'll find it works full well; 
To try our own defects to cure 

'Fore we of others' tell. 
And though we sometimes hope to be 

As good as some we know, 
Our own shortcomings bid us let 

The faults of others go. 



Massacres on Bible Authority 281 

Then let us all ere we commence 

To slander friend or foe, 
Think of the harm one word might do 

To those who little know. 
Remember, curses sometimes, like 

Our chickens, " roost at home " — 
Don't speak of others' faults until 

You've clearly cleansed your own. 
Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XIX 

WAR AND CHRISTIANITY 

From Science of Life, Hamburgh, N. Y., 
February 24. 
Editor, Science of Life: 

In regard to the article in your issue of 
February 3rd, in answer to my item of 
December 30th, (Massacres on Bible Author- 
ity,) the Bible plainly states, "Thou shalt 
not suffer a witch to live," (Ex. 22:18). "A 
man also, or a woman that hath a familiar 
spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put 
to death" (Lev. 20:27), which means our 
Spiritualist mediums and ministers. 

The writer who answers my article says 
that Spiritualism is older than the Bible. If 
it is older than the Bible, it was a truth 
before the Bible came into existence. If it 
was the truth then, it is true today. There- 
fore, you do not have to read the Bible in 
your Spiritualist meetings to prove Spiritual- 



War and Christianity 283 

ism to be true, or that spirits return and 
communicate to their loved ones. 

I was taught that the Bible is divine. I 
believed it. But, in a fortunate hour I lis- 
tened to the voice of reason, examined the 
claims of its advocates, read it, and the halo 
of holiness surrounding the old book van- 
ished. 

I am a Spiritualist from the crown of my 
head to the soles of my feet, seven days in 
the week and twelve months in the year. I 
have been a Spiritualist worker for thirty 
years, and have travelled all over the United 
States. When I go into a Spiritualist meet- 
ing to work and, instead of hearing the presi- 
dent of the society read and explain our 
Declaration of Principles and the beautiful 
truths that Spiritualism teaches, I hear him 
read from the Bible — a book he cannot 
explain, for it contradicts itself from begin- 
ning to end — it makes me shiver all over. 

It is the people who read and believe in 
this book that have caused such stringent 
laws to be passed, to prohibit our mediums 
and ministers from performing their duties, 
and from worshiping their God as they wish ; 
it is these people who have taken away from 
us our constitutional liberty and right, and 



284 P SPIRITUALISM 

would make us worship their God according 
to their way. 

Pray tell me, why will you in a Spiritualist 
meeting read from a book that has inspired 
more wars in Christendom than all else com- 
bined? Jesus says, in St. Matthew 10:34, 35, 
" Think not that I am come to send peace on 
earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword. 
For I am come to set a man at variance 
against his father, and the daughter aganst 
her mother and the daughter-in-law against 
her mother-in-law.' ' 

And in St. Luke 14:26 He said, "If any 
man come to me and hate not his father, and 
mother, and wife, and children and brethren 
and sisters, yea, and his own life, also, he 
cannot be my disciple." 

And also St. Luke 19:27, " But those mine 
enemies, which would not that I should reign 
over them, bring hither and slay them before 
me." 

If his orders were carried out today im- 
agine, if you can, the millions and millions 
that would be slain ! 

Look at the Christian nations at war today ! 
They read their Bibles and prayer books, 
even carry them on the battle field, praying 
to their Bible God for victory! This means 



War and Christianity 285 

that they are praying to God to give them 
more strength to kill more Christians. One 
of the European rulers, a short time ago, 
went into a church and said that God had 
sent him to save and deliver the people from 
bondage. He also read his Bible in church, 
and wherever he went. You never see or 
hear of such wars among the so-called hea- 
then nations as you do among Christian 
nations, because the heathen nations have 
neither Bibles to teach them wars nor a 
Bible-God to direct their wars, as have the 
Christians. 

There are a hundred versions and transla- 
tions of the books of the Bible. No two 
versions of any book agree. The translators 
and copyists have altered nearly every para- 
graph. The earlier versions alone contain 
more than 100,000 different readings. 

The original text no longer exists and can 
never be restored. Every version, it is ad- 
mitted, abounds with corruptions. Now, to 
assert that a book is at the same time divine 
and corrupt is a contradiction of terms. 

God, it is affirmed, is all-wise, all-powerful, 
and all-just. If he is all-wise, he knows when 
his work is being corrupted; if he is all- 
powerful, he could have prevented it; if he 



286 SPIRITUALISM 

is all-just, he would have prevented it. This 
God, it is declared, is everywhere and sees 
everything. He watches the sparrows when 
they fall, and numbers the hairs of our heads. 
He knows the secrets of every heart. If he 
made a revelation to his children, upon the 
acceptance and observance of which depends 
their eternal happiness, and then knowingly 
and wilfully allowed this revelation to be 
perverted and misunderstood, he is not a 
just, but an unjust God. 

The fundamental truths of Spiritualism 
are scientific, rather than religious, because 
based upon what is actually known. It is 
better to know a truth than to believe an 
error, no matter how sanctified may be the 
error held up for worship. The persistency of 
the conception, that in order that human be- 
ings should be saved, it was necessary to sac- 
rifice human blood must always remain the 
wonder of the world. It is the theory and the 
error of orthodox religion. 

Spiritualism has come into the world to 
do away with such a barbaric conception. 
We are not bound and tethered to a one-man 
idea of God, and so we Spiritualists are the 
most religious people on earth, because of 
the genuine desire we have to know the truth. 



War and Christianity 287 

The true Bible is Nature, and he who reads 
a Bible really written by God studies Nature. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Banner of Life, March 17. 

Boston — The Spiritualists Union Church, 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, pastor, Wednes- 
day, experience and testimonial service; 
Friday, reading from photographs. The 
meetings are well attended. We will cele- 
brate the 69th Anniversary of Modern Spir- 
itualism Sunday, 7:30 P. M., April 1. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XX 

LETTER FROM C. P. F. 

Neiv York, March 31. 
Mr. F. A. Thomas, 
Boston, Mass. 
Dear Brother : 

The enclosed article was given to me to 
be forwarded to you. I might mention, how- 
ever, that I do not know the man who wrote 
this article and have never heard of him. 
With best wishes, I am, 
Sincerely yours, 

John Heiss, Ed. " Immortality." 



Letter from C. P. F., New York, March 27. 
Mr. P. A. Thomas, 
Dear Sir : 

I am deeply interested in your article 
in " Immortality " regarding Organization. 
This is a matter that has been in my mind 
for a long time, but what to do to bring it 
about is the problem. We should be a unit 



Letter From C. P. F. 289 

as much as the Catholic Church is a unit, and 
I consider the necessary fulcrum is Initia- 
tive. We are battered about from pillar to 
post, legislated against, and our mediums, 
when made victims of foolish and unconsti- 
tutional laws, made objects of ridicule in the 
press ; this, too, in papers that have Spiritual- 
ists on their editorial staffs, but lacking 
moral courage to stand by their convictions. 
You mention the Christian Scientists. I have 
many friends who are followers of this com- 
paratively new cult, and I find their organ- 
ization is wonderful. High and low, rich 
and poor stand together like Catholics. What 
is the power that makes this so, if not Faith? 
Yet Spiritualists have the faith born of 
knowledge, but we lack the leadership, the 
effort, or something vital. It has been put 
forth so many times in the Spiritualistic 
press " We must organize," but no real effort 
is made to undertake it. Can not something 
be done? I have but little money, and very 
little time myself, but such as it is I will 
gladly give towards this end, to the extent 
of my capabilities. 

Could not an effort be made to begin to 
attempt a general affiliation of all the Spir- 
itualistic bodies — and among their members 



290 SPIRITUALISM 

secure a list of signatures of those who will 
agree to help, a small periodical contribution 
for the present, to take care of the expense 
of the movement — and then endeavor to 
reach out in endless chains, and thus grad- 
ually weld the chaos into one body? With an 
earnest request to each one to do away with 
petty jealousies, self aggrandizement, etc., 
and try to work as a unit for the general 
good of all. 

One phase of the situation appeals to me 
as wrong, that is the asking of admission to 
defray local expenses. Why not take up col- 
lections as do the Christian Scientists and the 
Churches? The former body receives a sum 
thus, far in advance of any possible admis- 
sion charge, and there seems to be a never 
ceasing stream of money pouring into their 
coffers. Can we not devote more time and 
toil to our philosophy, instead of ever appeal- 
ing to the love of the mysterious in human 
nature? The many fakirs to be found in the 
large cities are another source of trouble — 
Why not establish a board of censors, and 
unite as a body to drive them out of business? 
Then we will have the respect of the world 
at large, and the makers of our laws. No 
effort is ever made to do this, and the ques- 



Letter From C. P. F. 291 

tion naturally arises in the mind of the skep- 
tical, if this is a religion, why is there no 
attempt to weed out the black sheep — the 
charlatans? 

It comes to me that you are in a position 
to take the initiative in this matter. I am 
not a medium, just a simple follower, but 
my heart and soul ever cry out for the 
progress of our belief and knowledge, and I 
would so gladly put my shoulder to the wheel 
for advancement. Organization, once well 
under way, we could procure a footheld in 
the Legislative Halls, and gain thus our right 
to worship in our own way. Hall, centres, 
homes, all could be procured or built in time, 
and we could become a power in the land, 
as we should be today. 

Once the snow-ball of determination to 
succeed is started, we will have assistance 
undreamed of from the spirit world, and 
thus working together nothing on earth could 
stop us. What time in the world's history 
could be more ripe to meet with the necessary 
enthusiasm than when the bereaved, and the 
seekers for light and proof, number millions? 
Pardon my earnestness, but I am on a sub- 
ject near my heart, and I really believe that 
realization may be had even in our present 



292 SPIRITUALISM 

day and time. Seventeen to twenty million 
people can be a power felt to the ends of the 
earth if they have a mind to that end. Let 
us start with hundreds, then thousands, then 
hundreds of thousands, and we will event- 
ually be a unit of millions, 

Courteously and fraternally, 

C. P. F. 



From Immortality, New York, N. Y., 
September 15, 1917. 

One year ago this month we opened a hall 
on Tremont Street, Boston, and held meet- 
ings every afternoon and evening and three 
times on Sunday. These meetings were well 
attended. Our hall being on the street level, 
the song service attracted a great many more 
people to the meetings. Our hall was also 
open daily as a reading room. 

We were on the go from 4 A. M. to 12 p. M., 
attending to the public, holding meetings, 
giving readings and treatments until June 
20th when we closed our hall to take a rest, 
which we took while visiting and working for 
societies in Maine; from there we went to 
Brattleboro, Vermont, to a patient, later at- 
tending Lake Pleasant, Mass., and Lake Sun- 
apee, N. H., Camp Meetings, for a few days. 



Letter From C. P. F. 293 

On our return to the city we found a stack 
of mail waiting to be answered. This is our 
reason for not answering the many inquiries 
and questions through the columns of " Im- 
mortality." 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XXI 

QUESTION AND ANSWER DEPARTMENT 

By Franklin A. Thomas 

From Immortality, New York, September 15. 
To the Readers of this Department: 

Owing to the number of questions con- 
stantly being received and to the fact that 
the many duties of Franklin A. Thomas 
render it impossible for him to give time for 
the consideration of all questions at each sit- 
ting, it will be necessary that the questions 
be very brief. All suitable questions for this 
department will be answered in their order. 
Full name and address must be given, though 
they will not be used if a request to the con- 
trary is expressed. 

We desire to say to all asking specific 
advice as to personal development that we 
can not give such in this column. Those who 
desire to develop mediumship should pur- 
chase Franklin A. Thomas's book, " How to 



Question and Answer 295 

Hold Circles for Developing Mediumship at 
Home." 

Question by A. B. C. — Is there more than 
one Sabbath? 

Answer. — Every day is a Sabbath some- 
where. Every day in the week is a Sabbath 
for some one. The Greeks observe Monday; 
the Persians, Tuesday; the Assyrians, Wed- 
nesday; the Egyptians, Thursday; the Turks, 
Friday; the Hebrews and several Christian 
sects, Saturday; and the remainder of the 
Christians, Sunday. 

Question by F. F. D. — Have there been 
more years of peace than war? 

Answer. — Since 1496 B. c. to 1861 A. D., 
in 3357 years there were 227 years of peace 
and 3130 years of war, thirteen years of war 
for every year of peace. 

Question by G. 0. M. — Can Congress 
establish any religion? 

Answer. — The Constitution of the United 
States of America in an amendment of the 
Constitution of the United States of America 
proposed by Congress and ratified by the 
Legislatures of the several states, pursuant 
to Article V of the original Constitution, 
Article I of the amendment says : " Congress 
shall make no law respecting an establish- 



296 SPIRITUALISM 

ment of religion or prohibiting the free exer- 
cise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press; or the right of the 
people peaceably to assemble and to petition 
the Government for a redress of grievances. ,, 



From The Banner of Life, September 29. 

Boston Wigwam, Bible Spiritualist Society, 

Tremont Street. We had a most harmonious 

meeting. Excellent remarks and messages 

were given out by Dr. Franklin A. Thomas 

and others. 

From The Banner of Life, October 6. 
Maiden.— The Angel Messenger Spiritual 
Society, Pleasant Street, Sunday, September 
30, Rev. F. A. Thomas was a speaker and a 
message bearer in the evening. 



From The Banner of Life, October 13. 
Maiden — Progressive Spiritualist Church, 
Washington Street. Sunday evening service 
opened with song service, followed by Scrip- 
ture reading and invocation by our president. 
After listening to an interesting talk from 
our president, the Rev. Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas of Boston made many instructive 
remarks, and gave messages, which were 
enjoyed by all. 



Question and Answer 297 

From Immortality, New York, October 15. 

QUESTION AND ANSWER DEPARTMENT 

By Franklin A. Thomas 

Question by C. L. V. 

I believe in Spiritualism, yet I have noth- 
ing to show for it and it leads me to ask you 
a few questions. As mediums can converse 
with the spirits that have left this earthly 
world to be with the supreme Spirit on high 
and act on those in life who have not de- 
parted, — 

1. Why can't the mediums give me my 
mother's name in full and when she departed 
from this earthly life? 

2. The name of my boy in full and when 
he departed? 

3. How old am I and will I live to old 
age? 

Answer: Mediums are merely mediators 
between the mortal and the spirit world. 
They can only give you what they see, hear, 
feel, sense, or the impressions they receive. 
Spirits do not go by names, or count time the 
same as mortals on the earth plane. If your 
mother while living in her body longed to go 
to some other place to live or to work but 
never had a chance to do so, when her spirit 
left her body it would go direct to the place 



298 SPIRITUALISM 

it longed to go while living. It may be there 
months or years before it can find some one 
living whom it can impress to do, or carry 
out the work it longed to do while living on 
the earth plane. There are no idle spirits in 
the Spirit World — every spirit has its work 
to do. No spirit can be at any two places 
at the same time. A spirit can be in New 
York one minute and in California the next 
and can go wherever it wants to, provided 
that while living in its body it had done its 
work. Every person has a material and a 
spiritual body, and must or should work for 
both. If people abuse or misuse the mate- 
rial body, they hurt the spiritual body also 
and must pay for it either here on the earth 
plane or in Spirit World. Each spirit must 
work out its own salvation and is judged by 
its works, and must go to the home in Spirit 
world that it has prepared for itself while 
living in the body. 

Question by V. J. J. 

Does a man have to be married or avoid 
evil influences to be a medium? 

Answer: No, you do not have to be mar- 
ried to be a medium. Our body is the house 
in which our spirit lives ; for as we think, we 
attract that class of spirits to us, and they 



Question and Answer 299 

impress us and cause us to do the things we 
do; and if they were not around us, we 
neither could nor would do the things we do. 
Therefore avoid all the evil influence you can. 
Think the very best thoughts and lead a 
clean, pure life. 

Question by W. H. M. 

Relative to an occurrence that took place 
in my home a few weeks ago I wish to ask 
you a question. 

Last June of this year a woman came 
into my house with a lovely boy baby in her 
arms. She was a stranger, looking for rooms 
to rent. After asking a few questions, she 
told me she was a deserted wife and had to 
work for her living. I told her if she should 
have to dispose of her child, just one year 
old, to give it to me. In a few days she 
brought me the little fellow. I have three 
grown children who are very much averse 
to my keeping the boy who is now learning 
to walk and talk like all babies of that age. 
He is very noisy. They all put up such a 
protest against the little fellow that I told 
the mother she would have to take the child 
back. 

The very night after he was gone a crack- 
ling, or popping, noise began in the house. 



300 SPIRITUALISM 

It started in my room just over the cot the 
child had been sleeping in, and moved from 
there to a closet in my room. It cracked 
around in my room until my daughter came 
in, when it began in her room. It frightened 
her so, she screamed, " What is that? 9i 

Just then one of the boys, who is seventeen 
years old, came into the room. He said : " I 
heard that noise all night in my room; it 
kept me awake." I spoke up and said: " I 
believe that is God's spirit. He is vexed be- 
cause we sent that poor little boy away." 

My daughter cried out: "Jack, let's go 
and get the baby! " Jack was as willing as 
Clara, so at ten o'clock they drove away in 
Jack's Ford car to the orphanage where the 
woman had carried the baby. 

All the while they were gone the noise kept 
up. It would go from room to room, in the 
front hall, in the dining room — it just 
popped and crackled over the entire house. 
At eleven o'clock they rolled up with the baby, 
and the noise ceased. Can you throw any 
light on it, or give me any explanation of this 
strange occurrence? If so, please do it. The 
grown children are getting cross and grumbl- 
ing again about my keeping the little inno- 
cent. What must I do? Give up the child, or 



Question and Answer SOI 

keep him in defiance of all? We have recently 
learned the baby is of illegitimate birth. He 
is a beautiful, angelic looking fellow and very 
bright. Tell me what you can see " Spirit- 
ually " in regard to this. I want to do what 
will please God, regardless of the opinion of 
human beings. Answer this at once as it is 
of grave importance to me. 

Answer: Keep the child by all means. If 
you do not, something will happen to you or 
some one in your family. It doesn't make 
any difference who the father is or how the 
mother brought the child into the world. He 
is a wonderful child, and some day you will 
be proud of him when he is grown up. If 
developed, he will be a wonderful materializ- 
ing medium. Never mind what others may 
say, you keep the child. He can, and he will 
make more noise than forty other children on 
account of spirits having control, or working 
over him. You and your children are more 
or less mediumistic, therefore you should all 
develop the power that is lying dormant 
within you. The mother of the child was led 
or guided by unseen forces to your home and 
you are the one to develop the child, and he 



302 SPIRITUALISM 

will help you all. After you have had him a 
while all your children will love him, and will 
think more of him than you now do. 



CHAPTER XXII 

MY WORK AS A SPIRITUALIST, CONTINUED 

From The Banner of Life, October 30. 

Somerville — Church of Higher Spiritual- 
ism, Fleming Hall, Pearl Street. Sunday at 
3 P. M. a very fine service was held and some 
very interesting remarks were made by the 
Rev. Dr. Thomas. Messages were given by 
him and others. At 7:30 P. M. a service of 
song followed by the reading of Scripture by 
the president and prayer by the Rev. Dr. 
Thomas, who was the speaker and one of 
the message bearers. A large attendance 
was at each meeting. 



From The Banner of Life, October 27. 
Ipswich, Mass. — ■ The Spiritual Union held 
a meeting at G. A. R. Hall Sunday evening. 
The service was opened by singing, reading, 
and prayer. We had with us the Rev. Frank- 
lin A. Thomas of Boston, who lectured and 
gave messages. 



304 SPIRITUALISM 

From The Banner of Life, November 3. 

Everett — Spiritual Mission, Broadway. 
Sunday evening the meeting was opened by 
the president, invocation by Rev. Franklin 
A. Thomas, who also lectured and gave good 
messages. We hope to have him again soon. 



From The Banner of Life, November 17. 

Maiden — Progressive Spiritualist Church, 
Washington Street, Sunday evening opened 
with song service, Scripture reading and in- 
vocation by our president. We had with us 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas who made very 
interesting remarks, and gave convincing 
messages which were recognized. 



From The Banner of Life, November 24. 

Somerville — Church of Higher Spiritual- 
ism, Pearl Street. Sunday at 3 P. M. there 
was a service and healing circle, with a good 
number present. At both the afternoon and 
evening services Dr. Franklin A. Thomas 
was a speaker and message bearer. 



From Manchester Union, N. H., 
November 24. 
The First Spiritualist Church of Manches- 
ter, (N. H.), will hold a meeting in I. 0. 0. F. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 305 

Hall, Hanover Street, Sunday at 6:80 o'clock. 
Speaker and Message Medium, Rev. Frank- 
lin A. Thomas of Boston. 



From The Banner of Life, December 8. 

Boston — Wigwam, Tremont Street, Bible 
Spiritualist Society. Meeting opened by Dr. 
Franklin A. Thomas with Scripture reading, 
prayer and poem, after w T hich he gave many 
readings which were all recognized. 



From The Banner of Life, December 15. 

Cambridge — Cambridge Hall, Massachu- 
setts Avenue. December 9th we opened our 
service by singing, reading of the Scripture 
and prayer. Dr. Franklin A. Thomas was a 
speaker and message bearer. 



From The Banner of Life, December 15. 

Cambridge — The First Science Bible Spir- 
itual Church, Inc., Massachusetts Avenue. 
Services opened promptly at 3 and 8 o'clock 
P. M. In the evening we were surely blessed 
by true Spirituality as our pastor introduced 
to us the Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, who gave 
out plenty of splendid food for thought, in 
his masterful way. Those who were seeking 
for the Truth of Immortality to be demon- 



306 SPIRITUALISM 

strated to them clearly, did not go away dis- 
appointed. For they heard message after 
message voiced to them. 



From The Banner of Life, December 22. 

Somerville — Church of Higher Spiritual- 
ism, Fleming Hall, Pearl Street. Sunday at 
3 P. M. a meeting was held and some fine 
remarks were given by Rev. Dr. Thomas and 
others. At 8 P. M. there was a service of 
song. The president read the Scripture and 
offered prayer. Rev. Mr. Thomas made 
some excellent remarks and gave messages. 



From The Banner of Life, December 22. 

Manchester, N. H. — The First Spiritualist 
Church, I. 0. 0. F. Hall, Hanover Street. 
Since last report we have had on our platform 
good and respected advocates of our cause, 
giving good satisfaction to fine audiences. 
Among them, November 25, was Rev. Frank- 
lin A. Thomas, of Boston, Mass. 



From The Banner of Life, January 12, 1918. 
Boston Wigwam, Tremont Street, Bible 
Spiritualist Society. January 6th, meeting 
opened with Scripture reading, remarks and 
messages. We had with us Dr. Thomas, who 



Spiritual Work, Continued 307 

is always interesting, and his remarks and 
messages were most satisfactory. We hope 
he will be with us again soon. 



From the Banner of Life, January 12. 

Boston — First Bible Spiritual meetings, 
Tremont Street. January 6th, the work done 
by our mediums and healers was of the high- 
est order, and very few left without a mes- 
sage. Dr. Thomas was of the number who 
took part. 



From The Banner of Life, February. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas of Bickerstaff 
Street has returned from Kansas, where he 
was called to the bedside of his brother, who 
was not expected to live. 



ASKS HELP ANONYMOUSLY— A wom- 
an writing to Rev. Franklin A. Thomas 
asking him to help her in behalf of certain 
things, has perplexed her case, because she 
did not give her name and address, and now 
Dr. Thomas is in position to assist her and 
does not know where to find the unfortunate 
woman. 



308 SPIRITUALISM 

From The Banner of Life, March 23. 
Cambridge — First Science Bible Spiritual- 
ist Society, Inc., Massachusetts Avenue. 
March 17th at the evening service Dr. Frank- 
lin A. Thomas lectured and gave messages. 



From The Banner of Life, April 6. 

Cambridge — The First Spiritualist Tem- 
ple, Cambridge Hall, Massachusetts Avenue. 
Sunday, March 31, Rev. Franklin A. Thomas 
was a speaker and message bearer. 

Cambridge — First Science Bible Spiritual 
Church, Inc. Services Easter Sunday at 
3 p. m. opened with appropriate music. Scrip- 
ture reading bv the pastor; invocation, Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas. Solo, " Only a Thin 
Veil Between Us." Remarks and reading of 
the Declaration of Principles of the National 
Spiritualists by Rev. Mr. Thomas, followed 
by flower and article reading by him. The 
attendance was good. There was harmony; 
conditions were of the best and results were 
good. 



From The Banner of Life, April 6. 
Boston — Wigwam, Tremont Street. Meet- 
ing opened by Dr. Thomas with prayer, read- 
ing of Scripture and the Declaration of Prin- 



Spiritual Work, Continued 309 

ciples of the National Spiritualists' Associa- 
tion. He gave a very interesting discourse, 
comparing the principles of Spiritualism with 
the Bible, afterward giving some very fine 
readings, all of which were recognized. 



From The Banner of Life, April 14. 
Cambridge, Massachusetts Avenue, First 
Spiritual Temple. April 14, in the evening 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas was with us, and 
no one could doubt the truth of our religion 
after hearing all of the speakers. 



From The Banner of Life, April 27. 
Cambridge — First Science Bible Spiritual 
Church, Inc., Massachusetts Avenue. April 
21st, 7:30, Rev. Franklin A. Thomas gave a 
very interesting lecture on " Spiritualism." 
It was instructive and inspiring as well as 
convincing to the sceptic and those who call 
themselves Spiritualists. The lecture was fol- 
lowed by many good readings. 



From The Banner of Life, May 8. 
Maiden — The Angel Messenger Spiritual 
Society, Pleasant Street. Sunday, April 28, 
meeting was opened with congregational sing- 
ing. Invocation and remarks by Rev. Frank- 



310 SPIRITUALISM 

lin A. Thomas, followed by messages. We 
hope to have him with us again. 



From The Banner of Life, May 11. 
Lynn — Lynn Spiritualist Association at 
Cadet Hall, May 5th. Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas of Boston assisted in the circles. 



From The Banner of Life, June 8. 

Harmony Camp opened on Sunday with a 
grand good attendance. Owing to the delay 
occasioned by the scarcity of carpenters, we 
were not able to serve our dinners so nicely 
as we have always done the years preceding 
this, but everything passed off well through 
the day. 

There was a fairly good attendance at the 
12 o'clock meeting, and a surprisingly good 
attendance at the 2, 4, and 6 o'clock services, 
in which Rev. Franklin A. Thomas took part. 



From The Banner of Life, June 16. 
Maiden — Progressive Spiritualist Church, 
Washington Street. Sunday evening meeting 
opened with a song service, and invocation by 
our president. Next Sunday we will have 
with us Rev. Franklin A. Thomas of Boston, 
All come and hear him. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 311 

From The Banner of Life, June 15 
Cambridge — First Bible Science Spiritual 
Church, Inc., Massachusetts Avenue. June 
9th the 7:30 service was opened with the 
usual exercises, the invocation being offered 
by the Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, followed by 
a poem and lecture; also a number of fully 
recognized messages. Mr. Thomas is always 
a welcome visitor at this church. 



From The Banner of Life, June 22. 
Maiden — The Angel Messenger Spiritual 
Society, Pleasant Street. Sunday, June 16, 
the 2:30 service was opened by congregation- 
al singing. Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, in his 
remarks, gave many thoughts that were up- 
lifting, followed by messages. 



From The Banner of Life, July 13. 
Boston Wigwam, Tremont Street, Bible 
Spiritual Society. Dr. Thomas was with us 
Sunday, and at his best. All messages recog- 
nized. 



From The Banner of Life, August 3. 
Cambridge — Mount Auburn Spiritual 
Church, Massachusetts Avenue. The 2:30 
and 7:30 services Sunday were opened with 



312 SPIRITUALISM 

selections from the Spiritualist Hymnal. Re- 
marks and readings by Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas were clear and concise. 



From The Banner of Life, August 10. 
Cambridge — Mount Auburn Spiritual 
Church, Massachusetts Avenue. Sunday, Au- 
gust 4, the address was by Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas, followed by readings and treat- 
ments. 

From The Banner of Life, August 17. 
Somerville — Church of Higher Spiritual- 
ism, Fleming Hall, Pearl Street, Sunday, 
August 12th, Rev. Dr. Thomas was one of the 
speakers and message bearers both afternoon 
and evening. 

From The Banner of Life, August 31. 
Maiden — The Angel Messenger Spiritual 
Society, Pleasant Street. August 25th, the 
2:30 services opened with singing, followed 
by remarks and messages by Rev. Franklin 
A. Thomas. The 7:30 meeting was opened 
with music and singing. Rev. Dr. Thomas 
was our speaker and message bearer for the 
evening; his work was of the highest order; 
a large audience greeted him and gave strict 
attention. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 313 

From The Banner of Life, September 28. 

Lowell — The Progressive Spiritualist 
Church, Grafton Hall, Merrimack Street. At 
the 4:30 p. m. service Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas of Boston paid us a visit and spoke 
words of encouragement to us. 



From The Banner of Life, November 16. 

Boston — Mineola Spiritualist Society, Tre- 
mont Street, Dwight Hall Building. Sunday, 
November 10th, we were favored by having 
with us for the afternoon and evening the 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, who gave us two 
fine lectures, followed by communications 
that were very convincing. 



From Immortality, New York, October. 
QUESTION AND ANSWER DEPART- 
MENT 
By Franklin A. Thomas 
Question by M. T. Should the Bible be 
read indiscriminately? 

Answer: No. Webster's Dictionary de- 
fines "Holy" as perfect in a moral sense; 
pure in heart ; religious ; set apart to a sacred 
use. Bible : " the sacred writings of the 
Christian Church, consisting of the Old and 
New Testaments." Some of the so-called 



314 SPIRITUALISM 

sacred writings are unfit to be read by any 
one. Aside from many coarse and vulgar ex- 
pressions contained in it, there are passages 
so obscene that their appearance in any other 
book would exclude that book from the mails, 
and send its publisher to prison. 

We refer you to the following: Gen. 19 :30- 
36; Gen. 38; Lev. 15:18-33; 1 Kings 14:10; 
II Kings 18:27; Isaiah 3:17; 36:12; I Cor. 
7:36. 

Question by A. B. G. Is there more than 
one Sabbath? 

Answer: Every day is a Sabbath some- 
where. Every day in the week is a Sabbath 
for some one. The Greeks observe Monday; 
the Persians, Tuesday; the Assyrians, 
Wednesday; the Egyptians, Thursday; the 
Turks, Friday; the Hebrews and several 
Christian sects, Saturday, and the remainder 
of the Christians, Sunday. 



From The Banner of Life, March 22, 1919. 
Haverhill — March 16. Progressive Spirit- 
ualist meeting, Main Street. March 16th we 
had a very good audience to greet Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas of Boston. He gave two 
lectures that were interesting and instruct- 
ive ; his message work was of the best. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 315 

From The Banner of Life, November 8. 

Boston — Wigwam, Tremont Street, Bible 
Spiritual Society. November 2nd, after a 
very enjoyable song service, our meeting was 
opened by Dr. Thomas by reading the Scrip- 
tures, and prayer, after which he made some 
interesting remarks which were helpful and 
greatly appreciated by all. 



At Brattleboro, Vt. 

From The Brattleboro Reformer, May, 1920. 
Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas are 
occupying an apartment on Walnut Street 
for the summer. 



At Barre, Vt. 

From The Barre Daily Times, October 16. 
Spiritualist Society in Worthen Hall Sun- 
day, October 17, at 2:30 and 7 P. M. Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas of Boston will speak 
and give messages. 



At Montreal, Canada. 

From The Montreal Daily Star, October 27. 
UNIVERSAL SPIRITUALIST SOCIETY 
Army and Navy Veterans' Hall, St. Cath- 
erine Street West. Lecture by Rev. Franklin 
A. Thomas, of Boston, Author of " Soul 



316 SPIRITUALISM 

Science " and " How to Hold Circles for 
Developing Mediumship at Home/' etc. Sub- 
ject: " Our Work in the Spirit World/' 



From The Montreal Daily Star, October 27. 
A lecture under the auspices of the Uni- 
versal Spiritualist Society will be delivered 
by Dr. Franklin A. Thomas of Boston this 
evening at 8 P. M., in the Army and Navy 
Veterans' Hall. Dr. Thomas, who is the 
author of " Soul Science " and other works 
on Spiritualism, has been engaged in educa- 
tional work. It is claimed that Dr. Thomas 
has had some wonderful cures placed to his 
credit, photographs of which will be shown 
at the meeting. 



In and around Boston. 

From The Banner of Life, November 6. 

Cambridge, Mass. — First Spiritual Church. 
Services opened at 3 P. M. Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas was one of the mediums for the day. 



From The Banner of Life, November 12. 

Haverhill — Progressive Spiritualist Cen- 
tre, Merrimack Street. Thursday, November 
13, Rev. Franklin A. Thomas of Boston gave 
new light upon the Truth of our Religion, 



Spiritual Work, Continued 317 

showing it was not a dead one, but one very 
much alive. All messages recognized. 



From Boston Ideas, November 13. 
Next Sunday, November 14, the Mineola 
Spiritualist Society, Tremont Street, I. 0. 0. 
F. Building, will have as speaker for the day, 
the Rev. Franklin A. Thomas; subject, after- 
noon, 2:30: Why We Should Develop Me- 
diumship. Evening, 7:30: Our Work in the 
Spirit World. 



From The Banner of Life, November 20. 

Boston — The Mineola Spiritualist Soci- 
ety, Tremont Street, Dealand Hall. Very 
interesting and instructive service. After- 
noon, 2:30, and evening, 7:30, Rev. Frank- 
lin A. Thomas was the Speaker and Medium. 



From The Banner of Life, November 30. 

Everett — Spiritual Temple, Broadway. 
Sunday, November 30, at 3 P. M., Dr. Thomas 
assisted in the circle. At 7:45 the meeting 
was opened with a song service and Scripture 
reading by the president. Invocation by Dr. 
Thomas, also lecture and messages by him. 



318 SPIRITUALISM 

From Boston Ideas, December 4. 
Boston Ideas Center. At our social last 
Wednesday evening we were assisted by Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas, who inspired all with 
his earnest words on Spiritual Ideals, follow- 
ing with comforting messages. 



From The Banner of Life, December 7. 

Cambridge — Massachusetts Avenue, The 
First Spiritualist Temple. In the evening a 
gentleman was heard to remark: " This is 
the best meeting I ever attended." Rev. Mr. 
Thomas gave messages and answered ques- 
tions. 



At Nashua, N. H., December 29. 

The funeral of Jennie B., wife of Henry 
H. Thompson, was held from the residence, 
Broad Street, Sunday afternoon and was 
largely attended. A large delegation was 
present from the Sons and Daughters of Lib- 
erty. Rev. Franklin A. Thomas of Boston 
officiated. 



From The Banner of Life, January 8, 1921. 
Somerville — Church of Higher Spiritual- 
ism, Fleming Hall, Pearl Street. Sunday 
afternoon services were opened at three with 



Spiritual Work, Continued 319 

Sripture reading and prayer by the president. 
One of the Mediums for the afternoon and 
evening was Rev. Dr. Thomas. 



From The Banner of Life, January 15. 

Somerville — Church of Higher Spiritual- 
ism, Fleming Hall, Pearl Street. At the Sun- 
day afternoon and evening services Rev. Dr. 
Thomas was a speaker and message bearer, 
doing good work. 



From The Banner of Life, January 29. 

Taunton, Mass. — The First Spiritualist 
Society. Thursday of this week we had Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas as our message bearer; 
increasing numbers at our Sunday services 
have been the result of having able speakers. 
We are getting our stride; watch us grow, 
and help us if you can. We are bound to win. 



From The Banner of Life, February 5. 

Maiden, Mass. — The Angel Messenger 
Spiritual Society, Pleasant Street. January 
30th meeting opened by singing. Rev. Mr. 
Thomas read the Scripture and gave the 
invocation, and one hour to lecture and mes- 
sages. 



320 SPIRITUALISM 

From The Banner of Life, February 19. 

Cambridge — First Science Bible Spirit- 
ual Church, Massachusetts Avenue. Sunday, 
February 13th, we had two very interesting 
services in keeping with the day, for our 
loved ones on the other side, to reach their 
own on this mundane sphere. The speaker 
for the day was Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, 
who gave a very fine address and spoke of 
our religion as growing continually no matter 
how much it may be trodden to earth by other 
cults. 



From The Banner of Life, February 27. 

Everett, Mass. — The First Spiritualist 
Church held their open meeting Sunday, Feb- 
ruary 27th, in Washington Hall, Broadway. 
The hall was very prettily decorated. Every 
seat was filled and many went away, as even 
the standing room was taken. The mediums 
were all at their very best and included Rev. 
Dr. Thomas. 



From The Banner of Life, March 19. 

Boston — Wigwam, Tremont Street, Bible 
Spiritual Society. Among the mediums and 
workers for the week was Rev. Dr. Thomas. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 321 

From The Banner of Life, March 19. 

Boston, Mass. — The Spiritual Center, Tre- 
mont Street. Sunday evening every seat was 
taken. The song service was good. Dr. 
Thomas gave a short talk followed by mes- 
sages. 



From The Banner of Life, April 30. 
Maiden, Mass. — The Angel Messenger 
Spiritual Society, Pleasant Street. Sunday 
Dr. Thomas of Boston was speaker and mes- 
sage bearer for the evening. 



From Boston Ideas, April 30. 
Maiden — The Angel Messenger Spiritual 
Society, Pleasant Street. Sunday, April 24, 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas was the speaker in 
the evening after which he gave messages. 



From Boston Ideas, May 4. 
Maiden — Progressive Spiritualist Church, 
Washington Street. Sunday evening meet- 
ing began with congregational singing after 
which Dr. Thomas gave the invocation. He 
also made many interesting remarks and 
gave many excellent messages. 



322 SPIRITUALISM 

At Brattleboro, Vt. 

From The Brattleboro Reformer, May 3. 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas of 
Boston have come to Brattleboro to spend 
the summer and have taken an apartment 
on High Street. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

FROM A LADY IN IOWA 

May 16. 
Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, 
Boston, Mass. 
Dear Rev. Thomas: 

I was writing you this personal letter — 
explaining in part my experience — to ask 
you, an experienced Spiritualist and In- 
structor in Spiritualism, to please, if you so 
will, give me some light and tell me what 
you think, in part, of my progress, where I 
have probably failed, and what phase I may 
be fitted for. 

First I will say that the Book, " How to 
Develop Mediumship at Home," that I 
received from you about a month ago, is 
like the catechism to what I have possessed 
since childhood, though unknown and unde- 
veloped, which has, so to speak, shown and 
made itself felt at times ; in childhood, in odd 
feelings, and later on in seeing things. Usual- 



324 SPIRITUALISM 

ly I do not hear things — it is feeling and 
seeing — except that about six months before 
my mother passed out of life I heard silver 
chimes; and now while sitting, a few times 
I thought I heard subdued voices, this morn- 
ing, singing. 

I have been taking three sittings a day. 
For convenience of time I chose the early 
morning hour, the noon hour, and soon after 
dusk. About the third sitting I saw the 
clearest sunshine, a strip. To the left of 
this stood Jesus Christ as we usually see 
him pictured ; to the right of Christ was a red 
glowing space; in front of this were vines 
like on a trellis, the leaves had a silvery cast 
and were the shape of grape leaves; next to 
this stood an Apostle, with long white beard. 
When Christ and the red space disappeared, 
the Apostle walked across the space and also 
disappeared. 

I have seen Christ three different times 
now, always in his robe, but not the illumi- 
nated circle about his head, and always look- 
ing at me. The last time he seemed to stand 
about fifty feet away with his arms folded, 
for a long time. 

From the beginning of the sittings I saw 
all kinds of objects, things, and people, all 



From a Lady in Iowa 325 

strangers except my parents and angel sister ; 
great columns of soldiers, Indians in rows. 

I have been taking from one and a half to 
two hours for a sitting, this seemed necessary 
to get fully concentrated. I have been tak- 
ing my morning sittings before arising, and 
in this position I have glided away and have 
seen my body lying there, in a field or rather 
a green meadow. It is the most wonderful 
condition to be in, too wonderful to breathe 
or speak; breathing seems unnecessary; 
speaking too much of an effort and jar 
— the slightest noise is a great shock. This 
state appears in illuminated colors, is the 
most natural to be in, and the most natural 
to come out of, while in it; it seems that one 
could answer almost any question, however 
difficult it might be. 

I was told years ago by a clairvoyant that 
I had a Guide; who this is I do not know. I 
do not see nearly so many people as at first, 
though perhaps a few more formative ob- 
jects and illuminated spaces. 

I was induced to sing while sitting; the 
melody was familiar, but I could not find 
the words. Soon after I asked the spirits to 
give me the words I found it was the hymn 
" The Home of the Soul on High/' as we used 



326 SPIRITUALISM 

to sing it. I had not been able to sing for 
some years, but, to my surprise, I could 
sing wonderfully strong and sweet and have 
been able to sing ever since, and feel like 
singing. I was requested to sing at one 
other sitting, and found it to be the same 
hymn, " The Home of the Soul," but I did 
not sing it this time, not knowing it to be 
proper in this belief. 

I must say I have improved in a great 
many ways: more energy, do not get so fa- 
tigued; memory is better, thinking more 
precise; voice clear and more even. But the 
eyes have become very sensitive. 

Sincerely yours, M. P. 



(Reply to the foregoing letter.) 

Brattleboro, Vt., June 13. 
Dear Friend: 

Replying to your letter I must say you 
have had a wonderful experience; we often 
receive letters from pupils giving us their 
experience when they first commence to con- 
centrate according to our book of instructions. 
It was for such sensitives as you, whom we 
have met, that we were inspired to write and 
publish in book form our instructions. 

From your early childhood up to the 



From a Lady in Iowa 327 

present time you have not been able to under- 
stand yourself, nor do you fully understand 
yourself now. When a child you did not 
care to do and to play as other children: 
you either wanted to be alone or with people 
older than yourself. There has been around 
you a spirit of an old lady who is under 
medium height, medium stout; hair dark, 
but medium gray before passing out — she 
used to walk with a cane at times when she 
would go out on the street. Her spirit is 
here ; we can see it very plainly and can hear 
her voice, and though she speaks loud enough 
and we hear her plainly we are not able to 
understand her for her language is foreign. 
Her spirit has been with you for some time 
and has caused you to say and do things in 
the way you have. She is old enough to be 
your grandmother. You have been more like 
a grandmother in your ways and actions 
than like a young woman. 

There is also with you an ancient spirit 
of a man about medium height, medium full 
face, rather large eyes, wearing a turban 
on his head and dressed like the priests, or 
Magi, used to dress years ago. It is his 
spirit that has manifested himself to you that 
you call Jesus Christ. Vishnu is his name. 



328 SPIRITUALISM 

According to the Hindoo Philosophy he was 
a god. The Hindoos have many gods, and 
almost all of the spirits that are around you 
are ancient spirits. 

Your life has not been a pleasant one on 
account of different spirits around you. One 
spirit has been trying to impress you to go 
here and do this thing; and another to go 
there and do that thing, and this has kept 
you in an upset condition; if you had had 
wings, you would have flown to the Eastern 
continent because of these spirits trying to 
impress you to go where they were and to 
do what they did while they were living. 

We are going to ask you to please read 
and study each lesson in the Book of Instruc- 
tions until you thoroughly understand all of 
them, and we know that you will be more 
than surprised at the results. Remember, 
you have a right to select and call upon the 
spirit of anyone who has passed into spirit 
life to come in and control you as your guide. 
But do not allow any spirit, or spirits, even 
after you have selected one as a guide, to 
take control of you to a degree that would 
cause you to do things that you would be 
ashamed of or that would bring disgrace on 
yourself. Never lose your own individuality 



From a Lady in Iowa 329 

if you can help it (although the spirits may 
have to put you into a trance condition in 
which you seem to lose yourself for the time 
being, so that they may be able to impress 
you to do what they wish) ; you will learn 
through development to outgrow that condi- 
tion and will understand what the spirits 
want you to do, and it will not be necessary 
to place you in a trance as they had to do at 
first. 

Never mind what people may say or think 
about you, or about your ways and actions, 
as they do not understand you; in fact, you 
do not understand yourself. Go ahead with 
your development, and some day you will be 
known all over the country as a wonderful 
speaker and medium; then you will be able 
to laugh at those who talked about you and 
tried to injure you when in that undeveloped 
state. 

Your entire future life depends upon your 
development in May, June, and July, 1921. 
The clouds seem to be rising from the horizon 
in front of you, and daylight seems to be 
dawning upon you in your spiritual enlight- 
enment and unfoldment and in your desire 
to carry out the work and do good, as you 
have longed to do all through life. 



330 SPIRITUALISM 

May the angels in the spirit world bless 
you, and that you may be able to carry out 
your life mission, which is to do good to all 
mankind, is my prayer. 

With best wishes for your success and 
happiness, I remain, 

Fraternally, 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

MY WORK AS A SPIRITUALIST, CONTINUED 

From The Brattleboro Reformer, 
September 8. 
Miss M. H. of Boston came to Brattleboro 
today to be treated by Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas. She will visit her former home in 
Winchester, N. H., before returning to 
Boston. 



From The Brattleboro Reformer, 
September 21. 
Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas, who 
have been living on High Street during the 
summer, will leave Friday, September 30, for 
New York and will sail from there the fol- 
lowing day for Jacksonville, Florida, on the 
Clyde line steamer Lenape. They will make 
a short stay in Jacksonville, and visit other 
cities. 



332 SPIRITUALISM 

From The Banner of Life, September 24. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas wishes to an- 
nounce that he will sail from New York Octo- 
ber 1st, to spend the winter in Florida, visit- 
ing different cities in that State. Letters 
addressed to him at Post Office " Back Bay," 
Boston, Mass., will be forwarded to him. 
Also all orders for books sent to that address 
will be promptly filled from there. 

He regrets that, being out of the city all 
summer, he has been obliged to cancel his 
engagements with the many societies in and 
around Boston. 



At Jacksonville, Florida. 

From The Daily Metropolis, October 4. 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas were 
among the arrivals this morning on the 
steamship Lenape from New York. 



From The Times Union, October 6. 
Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas are 
spending several days with friends on West 
Adams Street, en route from Brattleboro, 
Vermont, to Tampa, where they will spend 
the winter, 



Spiritual Work, Continued 33S 

At Tampa Florida. 

From The Tribune, October 14. 
Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas of 
Brattleboro, Vermont, and Boston, Massachu- 
setts, arrived yesterday from Jacksonville 
and expect to spend the winter in Tampa. 



From The Daily Times, October 15. 

Tomorrow evening at 7:45 o'clock at the 
Odd Fellows Hall, Dr. Franklin A. Thomas 
of Boston, Mass., will speak under the aus- 
pices of the Tampa Spiritualist Church. 

Dr. Thomas is a noted author of Spiritual- 
istic writings, and is a very eloquent speaker, 
so it is hoped that the public will avail them- 
selves of the opportunity to hear him. 



In St. Petersburg, Florida. 

From The Daily Enterprise, October 17. 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas of Bos- 
ton, Mass., arrived in the city yesterday and 
will remain a few days on business. 



At Tampa, Florida. 

From The Tribune, October 30. 
Franklin A. Thomas, Graduate Masseur, 
of Boston, Mass., lately practising at Brattle- 



334 SPIRITUALISM 

boro, Vt., has opened an office in Curry 
Building. 



From This Week in Tampa, October 31. 

Franklin A. Thomas, graduate of New 
York and Chicago Schools of Scientific Mas- 
sage. Over twenty year's practice. Has had 
wonderful success in treatment of Neuritis, 
Rheumatism, Sciatica, Lumbago, Paralysis, 
Constipation, Nervous Debility, Obesity, Poor 
Circulation, etc. " Everybody satisfied/' my 
motto. Curry Building, Tampa, Fla. 



From The Brattleboro Daily Reformer, 
November 1. 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas of 
Brattleboro, Vt., and Boston, are among the 
New Englanders here for the winter. They 
visited many of the Florida cities before 
selecting Tampa for their winter home. — 
Tampa Morning Tribune. 



From The Tampa Tribune, November 4. 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas of Brat- 
tleboro, Vt., were among the tourists who 
registered at the tourist information bureau 
of the Tampa Board of Trade. 



Spiritual Work, Continued 335 

Vermont — Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. 
Thomas, Brattleboro. 



From The Tampa Times, November 11. 

The Golden Rule Psychology Class will 
meet this evening at 8 o'clock in the club 
room, Madison Avenue. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, noted author and 
publisher from Boston, Mass., will deliver his 
lecture on." Our Work Here and Hereafter." 

A cordial invitation is extended to the 
public to attend, as this lecture is one of the 
finest ever heard under the auspices of this 
class. Visitors and tourists are welcome. 



From The Tampa Times, November 11. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, author and lec- 
turer of Boston, Mass., delivered a lecture 
last night to the members and friends of the 
Golden Rule Psychology Class in their Club 
rooms on Madison Avenue. The subject of 
the lecture was " Our Work Here and Here- 
after." 

The Doctor said in part: The body in 
which the spirit lives and works, is material. 
Everything we see in this material world we 
see with our material eyes. We work with 
our material hands, and protect our material 



836 SPIRITUALISM 

bodies; when our material bodies go through 
the change called death, the moment the spirit 
leaves the material body it takes on its spirit- 
ual body and also its spiritual clothing — the 
shade or color of the spiritual clothing de- 
pends upon the shade or color most favored 
by the spirit while living in the body. After 
so-called " Death " the spirit goes on working 
in the spirit world just as it did when living 
in its material body; but, instead of using a 
material substance as when in the material 
body, it now works with spirit substance and 
will try to work for the spiritual body, the 
same as it did before for the material body; 
it will also try to find some one, who is still 
living in the material body, whom it can 
impress to do what it did, or wanted to do, 
while living on earth. 

If, while living, we were doing good and 
good was all we knew, then when we pass 
into the spirit world we take good with us, 
and we will continue to do good by going to 
those who are living in the material body. 
Just so, if we did evil and evil was all we 
knew while living, then evil is all that we can 
take into the spirit world, and it is what we 
will try to impress upon whomever we can; 



Spiritual Work, Continued 337 

that is, to do just what we did while we were 
living. 

When a little babe passes into the spirit 
world, as it has had no time or chance to 
learn here, it is watched over and cared for 
by spirit nurses. It gradually matures and 
is educated as are mortal children. All this 
time the nurse, or some other spirit, shows 
it who are its parents and when it is old 
enough and has finished its education, it does 
the work it desires to do — helping other 
spirits or mortals and fulfilling its mission 
of love. Remember, each spirit is doing some- 
thing in the spirit world; spirit is life, and 
life is always active, always moving, always 
progressing, never standing still, neither on 
the earth plane nor in the spirit world. You 
can not stop the progression of life; neither 
can you stop working, and as you are work- 
ing here for either good or evil, just so you 
will work in the spirit world. 



From The Tampa Tribune, November 12. 
The Soul Scientists have announced a series 
of open meetings. The announcement is as 
follows : " Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, author 
and lecturer, of Boston, Mass., and originator 
of the Soul Science movement, will conduct 



338 SPIRITUALISM 

meetings at 2:30 Sunday, November 13, and 
at 7:30 Thursday evening in the Woodmen's 
hall, Franklin Street. Dr. Thomas has writ- 
ten a volume called i Soul Science, the Proof 
of Life after Death/ which is the result of 
long years of study, intensive meditation and 
investigation." 

The following Church Notice, except for 
change of topic, appeared in the Tampa, 
Florida, papers from November 12, 1921, to 
January 1, ^1922 : 
From The Tampa Daily Times, November 12. 

First Soul Scientist — Services in Wood- 
men's Hall, Franklin Street. Sunday, 2:30 
p. M.; Thursday, 7:30 P. M. Dr. Franklin 
A. Thomas, pastor. All are welcome. 

November 13, Sunday, subject, Open Dis- 
cussion. 

November 20, Sunday, subject, " Jesus 
and His Works." 

November 24, Thanksgiving Day, subject, 
" What Do Spirits Know." 

November 27, Sunday, subject, Open Dis- 
cussion. 

December 1, Thursday, subject, " The 
Power That Heals." 

December 8, Thursday, subject, " Know 
Thyself." 



Spiritual Work, Continued 339 

December 11, Sunday, subject, " Spirit 
Power." 

December 15, Thursday, subject, " The 
Indian Spiritualist." 

December 18, Sunday, subject, Taken from 
the audience. 

December 22, Thursday, subject, " The 
True Spirit Guide." 

December 25, Sunday, subject, " The Spir- 
itualist." 

December 29, Thursday, subject, " Frater- 
nal Spirits." 

January 1, 1922, subject, " The Modern 
Spiritualist/ 



From The Banner of Life, November 19. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas writes from 
Tampa, Florida : Mrs. Thomas and I arrived 
at Jacksonville, Florida, on the Clyde line 
Steamer, " Lenape " from New York October 
4th. After visiting Jacksonville, St. Peters- 
burg, Sanford, and many other cities in the 
State, we decided to locate in Tampa for the 
winter, and I have opened an office and am 
giving treatments. 

There are three Spiritualist Societies in 
Tampa, their meetings being well attended. 
The Medium's License in the various cities 



340 SPIRITUALISM 

of the State is $500.00 per year, which keeps 
the honest Mediums away from the State, 
thus giving the frauds and fakirs a chance 
to come in and cheat the people in the name 
of Spiritualism, as only those who obtain 
money dishonestly could afford such high 
license. 

The tourists are coming here by the thou- 
sands, many expecting to obtain work to 
carry them through the winter. Although 
there is considerable building and work of 
various kinds here, still there is not more 
than enough for the native workers to do. 
Already the State is flooded by workmen of 
all trades and many cities are refusing to 
give their work to tourists. Do not come to 
Florida unless you have enough money to 
pay your way as rents are high and going 
higher. 

Fraternally, 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



From The Brattleboro Daily Reformer, 
November 22. 

The following is an extract from a letter 
received in Brattleboro from Dr. F. A. 
Thomas, who is spending the winter in 
Tampa, Fla.: 



Spiritual Work, Continued 341 

" Mrs. Thomas and I left New York for 
Jacksonville, Florida, on the Clyde Steamship 
Lenape, October 1, and arrived October 4th. 
We had a lovely voyage. After visiting 
round Jacksonville we sailed down the St. 
John's River to Sanford. It was a beautiful 
trip and a moonlight night helped to make 
the scenery more beautiful. In places the 
river is very narrow. We saw quite a num- 
ber of alligators in the river and lying on the 
bank. (By the way, the St. John's River is 
the only river in the United States that flows 
north). 

" After visiting other cities in the State, 
we like Tampa the best of all, and have 
located here for the winter. In all the towns 
we visited, or passed through on the train, 
we saw much building activity. 

" Many houses are built on a cheap scale, 
just boarded on the outside, without any 
lath or plaster on the inside, with no foun- 
dation to speak of and all open underneath 
the house. When they have a heavy wind 
it blows such houses off their foundations. 
During the hurricane here on the 23d ulti- 
mo, the wind blew the water from the Gulf 
of Mexico into Tampa Bay and Hillsborough 
River until the bay and river rose nine feet 



342 SPIRITUALISM 

above high tide and flooded the low land 
along the bay and river front. The wind 
and water together washed away, or de- 
stroyed, some of these cheap buildings. As a 
whole, however, the storm did very little 
damage to Tampa. It blew off many oranges 
and grapefruit, as all of the trees were 
heavily loaded. 

" Meats, groceries, and vegetables are 
cheaper here than in Brattleboro. Rooms 
and houses are higher. This state is overrun 
with working men of all trades, and more 
coming. The cities and state can not find 
work for all of them now and some of them 
will certainly have it hard this winter." 



CHAPTER XXV 

WAS THE SAVIOR A SPIRITUALIST? 

From The Tampa Daily Times, November 23. 

A discourse delivered by Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas, at the First Soul Scientist Meet- 
ing, Sunday afternoon. 

According to the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth 
was a Spiritualist, lecturer, medium, healer, 
and teacher. He produced every phase of 
mediumship known to modern Spiritualism 
at the present day. His parents were poor 
people. His father was a carpenter, and 
Jesus learned the carpenter's trade and 
worked at it until He was thirty years old. 
Then He commenced to lecture, teach, heal, 
and demonstrate Spirit Power. 

What did His neighbors say of Him after 
He had taken up the Spiritual work? 

" Is not this the carpenter, the son of 
Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and 
of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters 



344 SPIRITUALISM 

here with us? and they were offended at 
him." (St. Mark 6:3). 

Again, " Is not this Jesus, the son of 
Joseph, whose father and mother we know? " 
(St. John 6:42). 

He healed all kinds of diseases : " And they 
that were vexed with unclean spirits: and 
they were healed. And the whole multitude 
sought to touch him: for there went virtue 
out of him, and healed them all." (St. Luke 
6:18, 19). 

He told people what they were thinking 
about. " But when Jesus perceived their 
thoughts, he, answering, said unto them, 
What reason ye in your hearts? (St. Luke 
5:22). 

He told His disciples where to find a colt, 
"And (He) saith unto them, Go your way 
into the village over against you: and as 
soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a 
colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, 
and bring him." (St. Mark 11 :2) 

As to the woman of Samaria whom He 
met at the well, and whom He told to bring 
her husband, upon her saying that she had 
no husband, " Jesus said unto her, Thou hast 
well said, I have no husband: For thou hast 
had five husbands: and he whom thou now 



The Savior a Spiritualist 345 

hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou 
truly." (St. John 4:17, 18). 

" The woman then left her water-pot, and 
went her way into the city, and saith to the 
men, Come, see a man, which told me all 
things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" 
(St. John 4:28, 29). 

" And many of the Samaritans of that city 
believed on him for the saying of the woman, 
which testified, He told me all that ever I 
did." (St. John 4:39). 

Jesus saw and described spirits. " And 
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up 
straightway out of the water: and, lo, the 
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw 
the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and 
lighting upon him." (St. Matthew 3:16). 

He was led by Good Spirits. " And Jesus 
being full of the Holy Ghost" (Holy Ghost, 
meaning the Good Spirit) "returned from 
Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the 
wilderness." (St. Luke 4:1). 

He was followed by evil spirits : " The 
devil taketh him up into the holy city, and 
setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple." 
(St. Matthew 4:5). 

He held a seance on the mountain : " He 
taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, 



346 SPIRITUALISM 

and bringeth them up into a high mountain 
apart, and was transfigured before them : and 
his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment 
was white as the light. And, behold, there 
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking 
with him." (St. Matthew 17:1, 2, 3). 

He materialized to His brethren: " And 
as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in 
the midst of them, and saith unto them, 
Peace be unto you." (St. Luke 24:36). 

He dematerialized : "And their eyes were 
opened, and they knew him; and he vanished 
out of their sight." (St. Luke 24:31). 

Paul said : " Now this I say, brethren, 
that flesh and blood can not inherit the king- 
dom of God; neither doth corruption inherit 
incorruption." (1 Cor. 15:50). 

So Jesus must have appeared to them in 
spiritual form. " And Jesus said unto him, 
Why callest thou me good? there is none good 
but one, that is, God." (St. Mark 10:18). 

He said He was a man : " But that ye may 
know that the Son of man hath power on 
earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the 
sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, 
and go unto thine house." (St. Matthew 9:6). 

He calls earth, Heaven. " And no man 
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came 



The Savior a Spiritualist 347 

down from heaven, even the Son of man 
which is in heaven." (St. John 3:13). 

The kingdom of God is within you. " And 
when he was demanded of the Pharisees, 
when the kingdom of God should come, he 
answered them and said, The Kingdom of 
God cometh not with observation: neither 
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, 
behold, the kingdom of God is within you." 
(St. Luke 17:20, 21). 

Seek ye first the kingdom of God. " But 
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his 
righteousness; and all these things shall be 
added unto you." (St. Matthew 6:33). 

They ask him who God is; He answered 
them and said: " God is a Spirit: and they 
that worship Him must worship Him in 
Spirit and in Truth." (St. John 4:24). 

God is within you. " But when they de- 
liver you up, take no thought how or what 
ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in 
that same hour what ye shall speak. For 
it is not ye that speak but the spirit of your 
Father which speaketh in you. (St. Matthew 
10:19, 20). 

He showed them the Father. " Philip saith 
unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it 
sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I 



348 SPIRITUALISM 

been so long time with you, and yet hast thou 
not known me, Philip? He that hath seen 
me hath seen the Father; and how sayest 
thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou 
not that I am in the Father, and the Father 
in me? The words that I speak unto you I 
speak not of myself: but the Father that 
dwelleth in me, He doeth the works/' (St. 
John 14:8, 9, 10). 

The works that I do, shall ye do also: 
" Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that 
believeth on me, the works that I do shall 
he do also; and greater works than these 
shall ye do; because I go unto my Father." 
(St. John 14:12). 

He is still with us. " For where two or 
three are gathered together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them." (St. 
Matthew 18:20). He never built a church 
he never preached in one. He never proposed 
a church Fair to pay the debts with which 
the church was burdened. He never founded 
a new sect. He never received a salary; he 
never asked for one. He never wore a black 
suit nor a white necktie. He made no dis- 
tinction between sinful men and sinful 
women. He never hired great musicians 
or singers to draw people to hear His words. 



The Savior a Spiritualist 349 

He never went through a course of theolog- 
ical study. He was never ordained; he was 
never even converted. 

His abiding places were always among the 
poor, and because the people did not under- 
stand Him or His work, after three years of 
spiritual labor He was put to death. 



From The Tampa Daily Times, November 28. 
Dr. Franklin A. Thomas became a member 
of the Tampa Tourist Club today. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

RELIGIOUS LEGISLATION 

Tampa, Florida. 

I have noticed in the papers throughout 
the South how the Churches are trying to 
get their state to pass laws to compel all 
people to go to their church. I think it is 
time for you people who believe in religious 
freedom to wake up and not allow any church 
to pass such laws. A large number of Chris- 
tian people believe that religious legislation 
is necessary to protect and advance the cause 
of Christ. With this in view eight large and 
influential organizations are earnestly labor- 
ing to get the congress of the United States 
committed to the principle of religious legis- 
lation, by enacting a Sunday law for the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. They believe that the 
principles contained in the Ten Command- 
ments should be upheld and promoted by civil 
enactments. 

There is another class of people, I am glad 



Religious Legislation 351 

to say, who are decidedly opposed to the state, 
or the United States, having anything to do 
with matters of religious character. They 
believe that if this nation is great for one 
reason more than for any other, it is that 
its founders stood for entire separation of 
religion from civil government. They believe 
that in matters relating to religious faith 
and practice all men should be left free to 
follow the dictates of their own conscience, 
as it has been enlightened by the Spirit of 
the Great Creator. Religion is an individual 
affair, with which civil government should 
have nothing to do. The Church is an organ- 
ized body of people who profess religion. 

The state does not profess religion. The 
Church claims it has a special definite work 
to perform of a religious character. The 
state has a special definite work to perform 
of a civil character, and should protect all 
men in the enjoyment of their civil and relig- 
ious rights. 

So far as the State is concerned, it is the 
right of every individual to worship God, or 
not to worship Him at all. It is the right 
of every individual to choose how he shall 
worship God, and when he shall worship 
God. To compel a person to pray who is not 



352 SPIRITUALISM 

a Christian and who does not believe in 
Christianity is to compel him to act the part 
of a hypocrite : And a hypocrite in God's, as 
well as Man's sight is worse than an open 
sinner. 

To compel a person to keep Sunday for 
the Sabbath when he has no faith in that day 
as being the Sabbath, is to outrage the con- 
science, and it is also plain violation of that 
clause in our national constitution which 
declares : " Congress shall make no law re- 
specting an establishment of religion, or 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof." 

It would be just as consistent to enact laws 
requiring all the people to be baptized and 
partake of the Lord's Supper, as to enact 
and enforce laws compelling all the citizens 
of the United States to keep Sunday. 

What a pitiable sight it would be to see 
the officers of our cities arresting their 
friends and neighbors and dragging them to 
the courts to be tried, fined and imprisoned, 
simply because they could not get the consent 
of their minds to be baptized, unite with the 
church and partake of the Lord's Supper. 
Yet it is not an uncommon thing to hear of 
persons being indicted for working on Sun- 



Religious Legislation 353 

day after having conscientiously observed the 
seventh day as the Sabbath. 

We believe in religion as a personal affair 
with which civil government can rightfully 
have nothing to do. We believe in religion 
as a growing out of the free choice of the 
individual, and not as an affair of the state. 
We are unalterably opposed to using the 
machinery of the state to compel its citizens 
to conform to any religious rite or ceremony. 
We believe in religion for the other man — 
the man who differs from us and whom we 
shall try to win, but not to compel. 

I think if the Churches were less interested 
in laws and more interested in life; if they 
gave more time to the understanding of souls 
that they are seeking to save; if they gave 
less time to the vain attempt to shape all 
men by their own pattern and more time to 
the saving of human beings, they would be 
practicing Christianity, and working for the 
best interests of the nation, the state, the 
city, the family and the individuals them- 
selves. Is it not time to awake to this sub- 
ject? Is it not time to inculcate the principles 
of true Americanism, unadulterated with 
creed or sectarianism of any kind and ap- 



354 SPIRITUALISM 

posed to any participation of church in the 
affairs of the State and Nation? 

Dr. F. A. Thomas. 



From The Tampa Tribune, December 23. 

The Golden Rule Psychology Class will 
meet in the club room, Madison Avenue, Fri- 
day night at 8 o'clock. Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas of Boston, Mass., will address the 
class on the subject, " Know Thyself." Music 
by class orchestra. 

The following Church Notice, except for 
change of topic, appeared in the Tampa, 
Florida, papers from January 8 to Febru- 
ary 16, 1922: 
From The Tampa Tribune, January 8, 1922. 

First Soul Scientist — Corner Twigg Street 
and Nebraska Avenue. Services Sunday 2:30 
and 7:30 P. M.; Thursday, 7:30. Church open 
daily from 9 A. M. until 5 P. M. for Spiritual- 
ists. Church on ground floor. Dr. Franklin 
A. Thomas, pastor. Sunday, Open Discus- 
sion. All are welcome. 

January 15, subject taken from the audi- 
ence. 

January 22, subject, Open Discussion. 

January 28, subject taken from the audi- 
ence. 



Religious Legislation 355 

February 5, subject, " The True Resur- 
rection." 
February 12, subject, " The Truth." 



IMMORTALITY 

John Heiss, Editor, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

January 20. 
Dr. F. A. Thomas, 
Tampa, Florida. 
Dear Dr. Thomas : 

The article you sent us was printed in our 
last issue. We shall be pleased to have you 
send us articles from time to time, and I 
shall also be pleased to review your book 
" Soul Science." 

Sincerely yours, 
John Heiss. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

A MESSAGE TO SPIRITUALISTS 

By Dr. Franklin A. Thomas 
From Immortality, New York, January, 
The Constitution of the United States says : 
" Congress shall make no laws respecting an 
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the 
free exercise thereof; or abridging the free- 
dom of speech or of the press; or the right 
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to 
petition the Government for a redress of 
grievances." 

If all those who profess to be Spiritualists 
were true Spiritualists and not ashamed to 
admit it, and would all stand together as 
they should, Spiritualism would grow, would 
become the leading religion in the world to- 
day. Then the law makers would not think, 
or dare, to make laws against our religion or 
the free exercise thereof, or to enforce the 
laws that have already been passed against 
it. 



A Message to Spiritualists 357 

The Christian religion is the dominant 
factor at the present time ; it is amazing how 
the churches are going about to " down " 
Spiritualism, it is very hard to keep in one's 
mind here that anything of the sort is going 
on. When we find it is hard to realize the 
reality of the collapse of the churches, — and 
yet we see so many closed churches, and when 
we go into church we see so many vacant 
pews, — we wonder why? There is not the 
enthusiasm there used to be; people do not 
believe, even the church members themselves 
do not believe as they once did. The churches 
are trying hard to keep the memories of the 
Christian religion clear before the people. 

We can see how this religion has been kept 
before the people so long ; when we know that 
the majority of the people are ignorant and 
easily led and made to believe almost any- 
thing, then we can understand how the 
churches have been kept alive. The ignorant 
people as a rule are the religious people, and 
when you educate those ignorant people they 
will think for themselves and will leave the 
churches. 

Everywhere the church people hold their 
festivals, go into their grand churches and 
splendid halls, and into their reception rooms. 



358 SPIRITUALISM 

They seem always to be eating little bits and 
throwing the rest away, while there is so 
much hunger among our unemployed in this 
country, and hundreds of thousands, yes mil- 
lions, are slowly starving to death in the old 
world. Just think for a moment, if you 
please, what the churches are doing and how 
hard they are working to keep themselves 
going, to keep their members together and 
to get new members. And yet they are losing 
members year after year, and it will be only 
a matter of time when they, too, will have 
to close their church doors. The churches 
have run their race, they have gone their 
limit. The church people have done more 
than any one else to deplete the churches, 
thus the churches are dying a natural death. 
Spiritualism will take the place of the old 
creed and dogma because it is progressive. 
Spiritualism is steadily destroying the an- 
cient religious beliefs and their ancient tra- 
ditions, and replacing them by a modernized 
educational organization, by drawing herself 
together and maintaining herself and expand- 
ing her rule and culture unimpeded over the 
whole United States. She will be able to do 
this if given time to consolidate before her 
expansion is resumed. There is not much 



A Message to Spiritualists 359 

force in an appeal to the ordinary plain man 
to interest himself, much less to exert him- 
self, in Spiritualism or Spirit manifestation 
about which he knows nothing. The mis- 
understanding he has of the truth and the 
aims of Spiritualism is largely due to the 
theological priesthood and the public press, 
both of which, sad to say, are more often 
popular reflectors than religious educators. 

We have watched the Spiritualistic people 
and have listened to them and have read 
about them; there has been no degeneration 
there, but progress and invigoration, and 
an insistence on pressing the spark of life 
until it will illuminate all around them ; then 
each man will rely on his own spirit for 
light and strength, and so far as he, his wife 
and his children are concerned, they will live 
in Heaven here on earth. 

Mankind is unaware of, and does not 
realize, the strength and happiness in the 
Spirit power. The Spirits show us that as 
we sow, so shall we reap. Again they come 
to show us Liberty and to make the begin- 
ning of a greater civilization upon our globe. 
The day will come when every person will 
be able to see spirits — they will see and 
know. They will not have to believe that they 



360 SPIRITUALISM 

see Spirits, but will know that they do. They 
will then treat Spirits as they do their mor- 
tal friends; Spirits can demand it and they 
can enforce it. Will you speak to them and 
treat them as you would like to be treated? 
Will you do that now or will you drive them 
away from you and be left alone in this world 
in utter darkness, not knowing which way to 
go or what to do? 

Much remains to be done by the Spiritual- 
ists; most of their work indeed is still to be 
done, but enough has already been demon- 
strated here to convince any reasonable man 
that a new thing, a new instrument, a new 
organ, has come into human affairs, and that 
Spiritualism is the thing that the world needs 
and can not do without. Spiritualism has to 
grow ; this being the case, we may be assured 
that it will become the symbol and rallying 
point of all that vast amount of sane human- 
itarian feeling and all that has hitherto been 
formless and ineffectual, by reason of the 
need of such a banner. All the world feels 
the presence and nearness of Spirits around 
them, and those who wish to do something, — 
they know not what, — have set their feet in 
a path that can only be decided by the indi- 
vidual, because we have had to bear in mind 



A Message to Spiritualists 361 

that in the final and conclusive sense of the 
word the Spiritualists and all must decide for 
themselves. 

The road to true Spiritual success and 
happiness is a footpath, rocky, thorny, up 
and down hill. You can not follow in a 
limousine with a chauffeur to drive the car 
for you. You must pursue it sturdily by 
yourself, carrying whatever burden you may 
have. Thousands have traveled it in the past, 
and thousands are traveling it successfully 
today ; you can do so, for you have the power 
within you; cultivate, develop, and use it. 
Test yourself; start now, and you will be 
surprised at what you can do. 



From The Tampa Tribune, February 5. 

Spiritualist Church — There will be a 
Spiritualist seance circles tonight at 7:30 
o'clock at the Spiritualist Soul Science 
Church, corner Twigg Street and Nebraska 
Avenue, first floor. Several mediums will 
be in attendance. The public is cordially 
invited. 



February 16. 
First Spiritualist Church — The First 
Spiritualist Soul Science Church, corner 



362 SPIRITUALISM 

Twigg and Nebraska Avenues, Rev. Frank- 
lin A. Thomas, pastor, has discontinued ser- 
vices until further notice. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE TRUTH 

A discourse given by Dr. Franklin A. 
Thomas, at the First Spiritualist Soul Science 
Church, Tampa, Florida, Sunday, February 
12th. 

The human mind is groping for relief. 
It has revolted from " The Pace That Kills. ,, 
Legislation has not effected a cure nor af- 
forded a panacea, but somewhere there must 
be a remedy. Neither Nature nor God ever 
intended that the heart and the mind of man 
should be deprived of contentment, ease and 
peace. Or, if so deprived, that men and 
women might not be able to restore them- 
selves to a normal state by the exercise of a 
reasonble amount of common sense. 

Natural laws have been in existence since 
the beginning of time. They are within the 
knowledge of every man and woman willing 
to obey them. To perceive and follow them 
is but to remove from the eye of the mind the 



364 SPIRITUALISM 

veil of prejudice, bias and ignorance. The 
Creator of all things never concealed the 
Truth. If it can not be seen, the fault rests 
with the human mind. 

Ever since man began to think and ana- 
lyze his thoughts he has sought to know the 
" why " and " wherefore " of his being placed 
here, on this earth plane, with all its sor- 
rows, its trials and its evil temptations. Even 
the little children of this present age are 
beginning to ask serious questions relating to 
life and the mysteries of life — questions 
which parents can not answer because, in 
truth, they themselves know not the answers. 
And no matter whether it be the child or the 
adult who asks such pertinent questions, 
those of whom the answer is expected sadly 
shake their heads and say, " I do not know." 
When we ask the clergy for an answer, we 
do receive some answer from most of them, 
but these are very vague, to say the least, 
for, alas, the clergy do not know the truth. 
Some of them, evading the questions, tell us 
it is a great sin to ask such questions ; others 
frankly tell us that they do not know, and 
others seek to confuse us by hiding themselves 
behind the dictionary and using technical or 



The Truth 365 

other terms which we do not understand, and 
just let it go at that. 

But the time is here when the average man 
or woman wants his or her questions ans- 
wered one way or another. The clergy can 
no longer hide behind mysterious phrases or 
tell us they do not know. The people want 
to know and they have every right to know 
the TRUTH — and if the Church will not 
teach it in plain, easily understandable lan- 
guage, then the people will go elsewhere. If 
the Church does not soon come to this realiza- 
tion, its clergy will soon be preaching to 
empty pews. Their congregations no longer 
desire to listen to old-time heaven and hell 
talks, but want and will have the " whys " 
and " wherefores." 

Man seeks light, and light must be given 
him. He will not be kept in darkness any 
longer. He wants more than blind belief, 
superstitions, unsatisfactory explanations, 
etc. And he wants to know so that he may 
be better fitted to raise himself up and 
thus help raise all others. He isn't seeking 
TRUTH out of mere curiosity. All his very 
being cries out for enlightenment! Shall he 
be deprived of it? 

It is not my intention to go into any dis- 



866 SPIRITUALISM 

cussion as to life after so-called death, be- 
cause this life is far more important to you 
right now than any other life you may have 
in mind. You are here — and you are here 
for a definite purpose. Therefore, you must 
know what that purpose is, so that you may 
fulfill it to the best of your ability. And if 
you do that — if you live so that you do the 
very best you know how to do — the future 
will take care of itself and need cause you no 
anxiety whatever. 

God made man in His image! It is com- 
monly understood that, by this it is meant 
that God made man in the spiritual image 
of Himself — the spirit or real part of man, 
and not the body — although there are many 
thousands who still think of God as a Being 
with a body, like unto themselves. Because 
they have never been taught differently, they 
think this way, and in so doing come to look 
upon God as a Personal God. 

Now we, as spirits, being made in the 
image of God are therefore of God, and 
because each of us (spirits) is of God we 
are all connected by a common tie; just as 
are the grains of sand which go to help make 
up the entire sea-shore; all spirits are alike 
in quality and go to make up the one whole. 



The Truth 367 

By this we come to see that all spirits are 
alike. None are different, although because 
of the various experiences gone through by 
different spirits, all express as different per- 
sonalities and in outward manifestations. 

In its essence the spirit possesses every- 
thing that is perfect, but in its perfection the 
spirit is unable to realize itself. Thus we 
see that the spirit requires the body in order 
that it may come into contact with matter 
and material things, gain the experiences of 
this life and so unfold itself. 

The spirit may be likened unto the scholar 
the body as the schoolroom and the world as 
the teacher. 

Now when God placed man here upon 
earth, encased in a material frame, He did 
not say to man, " Thou shalt do this, and 
thou shalt not do that." Instead, He made 
man absolutely free to come and go, to do 
or not to do, just as he thought best. But 
God did decree that if His laws were broken, 
or attempted to be broken, man should learn 
His laws through punishment — gentle at 
first, and more severe as they were broken 
time and time again. Thus it was that man 
came to know the Divine Law of Compensa- 
tion ; " As ye sow, so shall ye reap ; " as ye fail 



368 SPIRITUALISM 

to sow, so shall ye fail to reap; and as ye 
would sow if ye had the opportunity, so shall 
ye reap according to the strength of the desire 
to sow. 

In our more serious moments we sometimes 
pray to God and say, " Dear God, let me do 
Thy will and not mine." But how many of 
us mean what we say? How many want 
God's will done? Most people are willing that 
God's will shall be done on earth just so long 
as it does not interfere with their will, but 
when they see that God's will interferes with 
their will, they put up a stiff " kick " and 
start in to fume and fuss around, seeking 
anything to change the condition and bring 
back their own little man-made paradise 
where their wills reign supreme. If these 
people were sincere — if they only knew the 
first laws of God — if they were only humble 
enough and thankful for the privilege of 
living and learning, then they would know 
that God's Will will be done on earth whether 
they want it or not. And when these self- 
same people say, " I will have what I will 
to have," little do they realize that they are 
placing their own little finite wills before 
the great infinite Will of God, and that they 



The Truth 369 

are seeking to change God's laws and decrees 
to suit their own plans. 

Man is lazy. He is too lazy to carry out 
God's plans and abide by the Will of God, 
and only does those things that will afford 
him pleasure; and only when absolutely 
forced to abide by God's Will, will man carry 
it on and do the right thing. But once let 
him get started along the right path and 
then we see that man comes to know that 
in abiding by the Will of God the greatest 
pleasures come to him. Let him consciously 
realize that the Divine lav/ of compensation 
will be fulfilled whether or not he likes it, 
and he will look to himself more closely than 
before, and begin to do things according to 
law and order. 

Man is able to think, and because thoughts 
come so easily he seldom, if ever, stops to 
analyze his thoughts and satisfy himself 
whether or not they are just the right kind. 
He seldom knows whether his thoughts are 
good, bad, or indifferent. But thoughts 
are very concrete things. Remember that. 
Thoughts play a very important part in our 
lives and because of this big fact, we should 
be very careful of them. The responsibility 
is great, far greater than most of us realize, 



370 SPIRITUALISM 

for the responsibility is ours toward our- 
selves and all others as well. Therefore, the 
first step we should take is to clean house 
and analyze our every thought before allow- 
ing that thought to express, or manifest itself 
in definite action. 

. Thoughts come to be consciously realized 
through the mind in man. First we become 
conscious of a thought. That consciousness 
brings about a realization, and we interpret 
that realization according to our past ex- 
periences and education. We then begin to 
reason over the thought, come to a certain 
definite conclusion or decision, give a certain 
definite command and this brings about a 
certain definite result. 

Now our every thought produces some 
definite result, usually action, and our actions 
bring about certain definite results in others. 

You hear a humorous tale, at its termi- 
nation you laugh — whether or not that tale 
was intended for your ears. The result of 
that laughter produces a certain pleasurable 
sensation throughout your body and perhaps 
results in helping to lighten sorrow or to 
drive away a fit of " blues." Now, had you 
been feeling "blue" and the tale had been 
other than humorous the result would have 



The Truth 371 

been to make you feel more " blue." Or, if you 
had been feeling at peace with all the world, 
it might have made you feel a little less 
peaceful had it not been humorous or of a 
nature to make you laugh and feel joyful. 
So you see that the things we say and the 
stories we tell are very likely to, (and very 
often do) fall upon other ears than those of 
the person to whom the story is being told. 

Desire for something possessed by another 
brings about envy, jealousy, hatred, rashness, 
and then serious results. That is why we 
should always keep our thoughts well under 
control and never allow ourselves, for one 
moment, to become desirous of something 
that is in the possession of another. 

Remember, we are all dependent upon one 
another for all we have, have had, and will 
have. Do you think you are independent? 
Could you get along all by yourself? Hardly! 
And gradually you realize how much you 
are dependent upon others. 

Bear in mind that our first duty is to 
self. If we understand ourselves well, if we 
take good care of ourselves, then we shall 
be better able to understand and take care of 
others. Recognition of universal brother- 
hood is the solution and key to all our prob- 



372 SPIRITUALISM 

lems in life. Knowledge of self brings mas- 
tery of self, and to be master of self is to 
gain all you can desire. 

Look well to this life, for it is the only life 
you know. Instead of giving so much atten- 
tion to what is going to happen after so-called 
death, be concerned with what is happening 
here and now. Do not worry about the past. 
There is nothing you can do to live the past 
over again. Look back over the past and take 
to yourself the lessons to be learned from 
what has happened. Pay more attention to 
your thoughts here, and then you will be 
better able to understand the truth in what 
I have given you. Think before you act. 
Think before you speak, and reason well over 
everything that you do. Yours is the respon- 
sibility. You are connected by a common tie 
to every other spirit and that tie cannot be 
broken. 

But you are the keeper of all things here 
upon this earth plane. How well are you 
keeping the books? How well will you be 
able to strike a balance? Remember the Di- 
vine Law of Compensation — the Law which 
cannot be avoided ! Think ! 



CHAPTER XXIX 

WHY THE BIBLE SHOULD NOT BE SCATTERED 
BROADCAST 

From The Tampa Daily Times, February 24. 

The dictionary defines " Holy Bible:" 
" Holy — perfect in a moral sense; pure in 
heart; religious; set apart to a sacred use." 
" Bible — the sacred writings of the Chris- 
tian Church, consisting of the Old and New 
Testaments." 

Did you ever think of the wonderful elas- 
ticity of the Bible? How it can be stretched 
to prove any religious belief that could pos- 
sibly be entertained by the mind of man? 
Of the more than one hundred and sixty 
religious denominations, with their contra- 
dicting statements and confessions of faith, 
each one proves its premise, and its teach- 
ings, as absolutely true and infallible, by the 
same Bible! 

The name should either be changed or our 
dictionaries should give a different meaning 



374 SPIRITUALISM 

of the book. Now, to assert that a book is 
at the same time divine and corrupt is a 
contradiction of terms. 

Aside from so many coarse and vulgar 
expressions contained in the Bible, there are 
many passages so obscene that their appear- 
ance in any other book would exclude that 
book from the mails and send its publisher 
to prison. The thirty-eighth chapter of Gen- 
esis reeks with obscenity from beginning to 
end. 

In proof of the charge of obscenity I refer 
you to the following: Gen. 19:30-36; 30:- 
1-16, 38; Lev. 15:16-33; 1 Kings 14:10; 2 
Kings 18:27; Isaiah 3:17; 36; 12; Ezek. 
4:12-15; 1 Cor. 7:36. 

That that part of the Holy Bible is obscene 
and unfit to be read, is admitted even by 
Christians. 

Noah Webster, a Protestant, edited an 
expurgated edition of the Bible. In vindica- 
tion of his work, he says : " Many passages 
[of the Bible] are expressed in language 
which decency forbids to be repeated in fam- 
ilies and in the pulpit." 

The Rev. Dr. Embree, Methodist, of Kan- 
sas, in a speech before the Topeka School 
board, advocating the reading of Bible selec- 



Bible Not Scattered Broadcast 375 

tions in the public schools of that city, recent- 
ly said: 

" I would not want the Holy Bible read 
indiscriminately, I think some of it unfit to 
be read by any one." 

Richard Lalor Shiel, M. P., thus wrote, 
" Part of the Holy writings consist of his- 
tory and the narration of facts of a kind 
that cannot be mentioned in the presence of 
a virtuous woman without exciting horror. 
Shall a woman be permitted to read in her 
chamber what she would tremble to hear at 
her domestic board? Shall she con over and 
revolve what she would rather die than 
utter?" 

And if unfit for the perusal of a matured 
woman, shall innocent childhood be polluted 
by these vile, indecent tales? 

Scattering the Bible broadcast over the 
land, making it the chief text-book of the 
Sunday-school and, above all, placing it in 
our public schools and compelling our youth 
to accept it as infallible authority, is a mon- 
strous wrong. There are within the lids of 
this Holy Bible many a chapter sanctioning 
the bloodiest deeds in all the annals of crime ; 
and this is the book you wish to place in the 
hands of our sons! There are within the 



376 SPIRITUALISM 

lids of this Holy Bible many chapters which 
no modest woman can read without her cheek 
becoming tinged with the blush of shame; 
and this is the book you wish to place in the 
hands of our daughters! If you delight to 
feast upon such carrion you have the right 
to do so, but you have no right to thrust it 
down the thoats of your neighbors. 

If you discard the Bible, " What ", asks 
the Christian, " will you give us as a moral 
guide? " Enter a public library blindfolded; 
take from its shelves a volume at random, 
and you will scarcely select a worse one. The 
book you select may not pertain to morals, it 
may not even contain the word " Moral ", but 
neither does the Bible. Must we go to the 
ignorant past for our morality? Does human 
experience count for nothing? Have the most 
marvelous advances been made in every de- 
partment of human knowledge during the 
past two thousand years and none in ethical 
science? Read Bentham, Mills, and Spencer. 
Let your children study Count Volney's 
" Law of Nature ", and Miss Wixon's " Right 
Living ". These books are not infallible and 
divine, they are fallible and human ; but they 
are immeasurably superior to any books that 
supernaturalists can offer. Not in Moses nor 



Bible Not Scattered Broadcast 377 

Jesus, not in the Decalogue nor Sermon on 
the Mount, is there to be found a statement 
of moral duties so just and so comprehensive 
as the following from Volney: 

" We conclude that all the social virtues 
are only the habitude of actions useful to 
society and to the individual who practices 
them; that they all refer to the physical 
object of man's preservation; that nature 
having implanted in us the want of that 
preservation, has made a law to us of all its 
consequences, and a crime of everything that 
deviates from it; that we carry in us the 
seed of every virtue, and of every perfection ; 
that it only requires to be developed, that 
we are only happy inasmuch as we observe 
the rules established by nature for the end 
of our preservation ; and that all wisdom, all 
philosophy, all law, all virtue, all perfection, 
consist in the practice of these actions 
founded on our own organization : — Pre- 
serve Thyself; Instruct Thyself; Moderate 
Thyself; Live for thy fellow-men, that they 
may live for thee." 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XXX 

WHY THE BIBLE SHOULD BE READ 

From The Tampa Daily Times, March 3. 
The Bible has withstood many fierce at- 
tacks. This age of lasciviousness, greed, 
graft, thieving, robbery and murders brings 
no exceptions. I am sure the great crowds 
who are guilty of the above and like crimes 
hail with delight Dr. Thomas' attack on the 
divine volume, in the issue of the Times of 
February 24th. 

The Doctor was fortunate in the fact that 
he was born in a land where the Bible sheds 
some rays of golden truths. Had he first 
seen light in a land where the Bible has 
never gone, he might have been fed by his 
mother to the angry crocodiles. This the 
heathen mother does to appease the wrath of 
an offended god. The only book that teaches 
her better is the Bible. The Doctor in his 
article seems wonderfully interested in wom- 
an. He is forgetful of the fact that where 



Why The Bible Should Be Read 379 

the Bible has not gone woman is a beast of 
burden — bound down in abject slavery. 
There she is a slave, a beast to satisfy the 
lascivious lusts of the brute beast, man. The 
Bible lifts her from this low state of degra- 
dation. It elevates her by man's side and 
honors her as his companion and helpmate. 
Of all characters in the world, woman should 
be a friend to the Bible. 

But, where has the Doctor learned that 
there is one standard of purity for the wom- 
an and quite a different one for man? Why 
should the writings of any book shock the 
modesty of woman and not that of man? 
Where has he learned that should a woman 
make a misstep in life she must be banished 
from society and that the demon man, who 
caused her downfall, may remain in high 
social standing, if he has money? God re- 
quires the same purity in the life of man, as 
man demands of woman. 

But the Doctor says the Bible is an " inde- 
cent book." He seems not to have learned 
that God does not write as man. He tells 
the bad as well as the good about friend or 
foe. I challenge him to tell the same in as 
decent language as the Bible has it. " Unto 
the pure all things are pure." 



380 SPIRITUALISM 

The Doctor asks, " Does human experience 
count for nothing? " Without the light of the 
Bible, " human experience " leads man far- 
ther into idolatry and heathenism. Where 
the Bible is unkown ignorance and super- 
stition prevail. 

However, the Doctor gave us a substitute. 
Here it is : " Enter a public library blind- 
fold; take from its shelves a volume at ran- 
dom, and you will scarcely select a worse 
one." That is wonderful advice coming from 
a man who has the title doctor, and a home 
in civilization. There is not a truth taught 
nor a virtue emphasized in all the books of 
that " public library " that does not owe its 
origin to the Bible. To it we are indebted 
for all blessings of life. Without the Bible 
there would be no libraries, schools, asylums, 
or civilization, and life, liberty and property 
would be endangered. 

Would the Doctor like to live and rear a 
family where the influence of the Bible has 
not gone? We would suggest to him the 
jungles of benighted Africa. There the Bible 
will not trouble him, only as some poor mis- 
sionary comes to bring civilization. 

The Doctor fails to see that his argument 
on " the wonderful elasticitv of the Bible " 



Why The Bible Should Be Read 381 

proves its divinity. " The 160 religious de- 
nominations with all their contradictions " 
only prove the genuine article somewhere. 
That genuine article is the New Testament 
church, built upon Jesus Christ as the chief 
cornerstone. I wonder if the Doctor has ever 
tried to inform himself about that institution 
concerning which he, who spake as never man 
spake, said : " Upon this rock I will build my 
church." 

The dying words of the noted infidel, 
Tyndal, were : " God, if there be a God, 
I desire thee to have mercy on me." How 
different the last words of Sir Walter Scott: 
" There is but one book, bring me the Bible." 

There is no virtue that the Bible does not 
commend. There is no vice it does not con- 
demn. 

Henderson, Tenn. A. G. F. 



From The Tampa Tribune, March 5. 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas, and 
Mrs. Thomas's mother, were among the four 
hundred and fifty members of the Tampa 
Tourist Club, who enjoyed a trip to Braden- 
town Friday on the steamer Favorite, char- 



382 SPIRITUALISM 

tered for the occasion. They were given auto- 
mobile rides about Bradentown, Palmetto 
and Manatee. 



From The Daily Tribune, March 6. 
Editor Tribune: 

In view of the keen interest that many- 
sensible people of Tampa and other places 
are taking in the Spiritualistic meetings be- 
ing conducted here, I can not refrain from 
expressing my views on the subject. 

Spiritualism is a recurrence of a series of 
phenomena that one may trace back through 
the pages of history to and through the dark 
ages when witches and dragons and kindred 
species were as much believed in as the creeds 
that were seared into their minds. 

To me it is a direct descendant of the ne- 
cromancy of the middle ages and related to 
mesmerism, and other fakes which under 
various guises or names have enslaved the 
minds of the credulous for ages. 

If we live right in this world and follow 
the golden rule, as taught by Confucius and 
Zoroaster a thousand years before the Chris- 



Why The Bible Should Be Read 383 

tian era, I do not think we need to concern 
ourselves with, or to fear for, our own 
future in other worlds. 

E. M. S. 



From The Tampa Tribune, March 8. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas was one of the 
two hundred members of the Tampa Tourist 
Club, who visited Brooksville Friday, and 
was given a fifty-mile automobile ride 
through the country around Brooksville. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

J. G. S. ANSWERS A. G. F. 

Tampa, Florida, March 11. 
Mr. A. G. F. 
Henderson, Tenn. 
Dear Sir: 

I have read your letter published in the 
Times of this city on the third, in reply to a 
letter of Dr. Thomas of this city. While I 
have not the pleasure of an acquaintance with 
Dr. Thomas, I hope to in a short time. It 
is not my purpose in writing you to answer 
for him, but rather to acquaint you with the 
fact that there are many, yes very many 
people who are waking up to the fact that 
the Bible is nothing but a conglomeration of 
many writers and many revisions, and as 
such has no place — as a book — in our pub- 
lic school system. 

I do not think that you make a very good 
case in behalf of Bible reading in the schools. 
In your first paragraph you condemn the 



J. G S. Answer A. G. F. 385 

greed, graft, etc., of this age, and yet without 
the divine rays of this book all would be 
heathenism. If this age is so bad, why not 
have heathenism? After nearly two thou- 
sand years of this book's divine rays falling 
upon this earth, we are still in the throes of 
graft, murder, etc. This does not look as 
though the influence of the Bible has all 
been beneficent, especially since we have 
studied some of the Roman and Greek civili- 
zations which existed before the Bible shed 
its divine influence over the earth. 

You think the Doctor fortunate that he 
lives in a land where the golden truths have 
softened the rigors of man's heathenism, else 
he might have been food for the crocodile. 
Perhaps a being would have been better off 
as food to the angry or hungry saurian, than 
to have experienced the torments of this aw- 
ful age — perhaps to fall before the mur- 
derer's knife. The child would have gone — 
that depending on the variety of its mother's 
belief — to the mansions in the skies for 
eternity, while the Doctor is destined to eter- 
nal torment. The golden truths turn to eter- 
nal hate if they can not permeate the " soul " 
of man and make him fall on his knees in 
adoration of a Divine Being about whom he 



386 SPIRITUALISM 

knows nothing, and about whom no one else 
knows anything so far as authentic record 
goes. It is true that Moses claims to have 
seen his posterior side, but there are some 
so bold as to declare Moses a myth. 

It might be well for you to study something 
of the civilization of modern China, Japan, 
and India. These countries according to 
your theory are heathen and given to super- 
stition and human sacrifices. Then compare 
them with modern Europe and America. If 
you will include a study of the World War in 
this, I think you will find that these pagan 
countries are about as civilized as your so- 
called Christian countries. 

You claim that without the light of the 
Bible, man would sink farther and farther 
into idolatry. Yet the Christian is an idol 
worshiper. He worships three Gods in one. 
Some of the churches worship the Virgin 
Mary, and a host of saints. Of course you 
may deny this, but this is about what it 
amounts to among the ignorant. 

You are again in error in your claims that 
there is no truth or virtue emphasized in any 
of the books of a public library that is not 
taken from the Bible. This is evidently a 
slip of the pen. You certainly know, since 



J. G S. Answer A. G. F. 387 

you are the President of a College, that there 
are many books in our public libraries that 
were written by men who never heard of the 
Bible — who lived and wrote before the Bible 
was ever written; the books and writings of 
these men teem with virtues and truths, just 
as well as does the Bible. 

There are many good things in the Bible 
as well as many good things in other books. 
I, as well as the Doctor, resent the attempt 
on the part of the Supernaturalists to foist 
the reading of the Bible into our public 
schools. There is nothing to be gained by it, 
and much to be lost, since it will arouse the 
resentment of a large body of men and 
women who do not believe that it is a divine 
book, and who know from a study of it that 
it is very undivine. It is full of coarse and 
vulgar sayings, and is fit to be read only by 
those who wish to delve into ancient history 
and literature; it is also full of foolish and 
unintelligible sayings — its devotees are not 
able to decide upon its meaning. 

There is nothing to be learned by the 
school child in reading the Bible that he 
can not better learn in other books, in books 
free from superstition and myths. 



388 SPIRITUALISM 

Let's keep the Bible where it belongs — in 
the churches — for those who wish to sing 
and pray and want to live some future day. 

Yours very truly, 
J. G. S. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

REPLY TO CRITICISM 

From The Tampa Daily Tribune, March 13. 
Editor Tribune: 

It was with a great deal of interest that I 
read the letter of E. M. S. in the Tribune of 
Monday last. I was specially interested in 
his comment concerning " Spirit Communi- 
cation." 

The predominating thought of mankind 
thoughout the ages has been centered upon 
the world of physical matter. Men have lived 
in accordance with, and obedience to, the 
exterior avenues of sense perception until 
they have become thoroughly inoculated with 
the idea that all things in the universe can be 
brought to their comprehension through the 
physical senses. 

How easy it is for the majority of people, 
when coming in touch with spiritual mani- 
festations, to cry fraud, illusion, deception, 
etc., and allow a supercilious smile to over- 



390 SPIRITUALISM 

cast their features, thereby, if they were only 
aware of the fact, exposing their ignorance 
and lack of spirituality. 

You can scarcely come in touch with a 
person who has not at some time in his life 
come in contact with a spirit manifestation 
of some kind. He will search the vocabulary 
of the English language through for a word 
that will apply to the case, and not being able 
to find one will say, " Well, I do not know 
what it was." All this instead of plain truth 
— spirit manifestations. 

How seriously some very brilliant minds 
attempt to account for psychic manifesta- 
tions without attributing them to spirit in- 
fluence, — try to elucidate and explain them 
by the hypothesis of hallucination, mental 
telepathy, subconscious and subliminal mind, 
etc., but one self-evident fact is always notice- 
able, there is some portion of the phenomenon, 
or some particular phenomenon that does not 
harmonize with their premise or hypothesis, 
thereby showing it is not a truth ; while upon 
the other hand, the spiritual hypothesis will 
explain every known or knowable psychic 
phenomenon in nature. 

Does it not make you smile, to see some 
people who never spent two hours in an 



Reply to Criticism 391 

honest investigation of the phenomena of 
Spiritualism in their lives, expose their ego- 
tism and conceit by denying the truth of such 
phenomena, contrary to the statements of 
such renowned men as Alfred Russell Wal- 
lace, Professor Zollner, Professor Hyslop, 
Professor Funk, Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir Arthur 
Conan Doyle and others equally eminent 
who spent years of scientific study and in- 
vestigation into the phenomena and pro- 
nounced it a truth in nature? No wonder 
the angels marvel at man's stupidity! 

" To me Spiritualism needs no further 
proof; it is as well proven as any of the 
modern sciences. ,, Thus said Alfred Russell 
Wallace, Physical Scientist. " To me Spirit- 
ualism is an indubitable truth, and has taken 
its stand among the leading sciences of the 
present day," said Cezare Lombrozo, the 
renowned Italian Criminologist. 

" I do not hesitate to confirm my convic- 
tion, based on personal examination of the 
subject, that any scientific man who declares 
the phenomena, (as demonstrated magnetic, 
somnambulistic, mediumistic, and others not 
yet explained by science) to be impossible, 
is one who speaks without knowing what he 



392 SPIRITUALISM 

is talking about." Camille Flammarion, em- 
inent French Astronomer. 

" Any one denying the phenomena of Spir- 
itualism, is not worthy of being called a 
skeptic; he is simply ignorant." Thomas J. 
Hudson, Scientist. 

Hon. Robert Dale Owen, one of the world's 
greatest scientists, said : " I began a scien- 
tific investigation of the phenomena termed 
' Mediumistic ' for the express purpose of 
proving it an illusion, but I soon found the 
evidence proved the opposite, and now Spirit- 
ualism is so fully demonstrated and proven 
as a truth of nature, that to deny it is not 
showing good judgment." 

If spirit intercourse is impossible why do 
Catholics hold communion with the saints? 
And by what law or natural hypothesis is 
that divine privilege delegated to only a few 
self-chosen individuals? 

That "there is a spirit world with real 
spirits of those departed from this world in 
it," was the declaration of a Roman Catholic 
Priest in an address on Spiritualism before 
the Catholic Club of the Massachusetts In- 
stitute of Technology. "Although there 
are, no doubt, many unprincipled mediums 
and clairvoyants at work," he says, " to 



Reply to Criticism 393 

every thoughtful observer it is evident that 
real spirits do exist. The argument that 
spirits are imaginary cannot stand ground; 
they have an objective reality and the ad- 
mission of the spirit world is not hard for 
Catholics." 

Rev. R. Heber Newton, a distinguished 
Episcopal Divine of New York City, dis- 
cussing psychical science in an address before 
the American Institute of Scientific Research, 
made the assertion that the spirits of the 
dead communicate with the living, and that 
clairvoyance is an established scientific fact. 
" The belief in the existence of unseen spirits 
and their power of communication with us in 
the flesh is one of the oldest, most wide-spread 
and most insistent beliefs of man, and it has 
revived strongly in our day." 

" For the first time in the history of man 
these powers have been scientifically inves- 
tigated in our day. Already the result is 
that a considerable number of eminent men 
of science have had the courage to avow, that, 
after allowing for illusion, fraud and every 
possible hypothesis of interpretation, they 
have been driven up to the ultimate solution 
of the problem — the belief in the actual 
communication of the spirits of those whom 



394 SPIRITUALISM 

we call dead, with the living. Anyone who 
walks with eyes open, ready to hear what 
men have to tell, will find stories pouring in 
upon him from men whom he cannot mis- 
trust as liars, and whom he knows to be sane 
and sensible, which will stagger him. These 
experiences are not all confined to the seance 
and the medium. Their most impressive 
forms occur in the privacy of the home with- 
out a professional medium present." Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., Gazette. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, 
Tampa, Florida. 
Dear Sir : 

I wish to thank you for a copy of your 
letter sent to A. G. F. 

There seems to be a determined and per- 
sistent effort on the part of the church people 
to have the Bible read in the schools, and 
when they get that they will try to make us 
attend church, and do everything else that 
the bigots want. 

It is going to take a persistent fight on the 
part of the friends of freedom of speech and 
worship to stop these fanatics. 



Reply to Criticism 395 

I hope that I may be able to see you before 
you leave the city, although I usually work 
late and early and have very little time off. 

Yours truly, 
J. G. S. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

DOES THE CHURCH SAVE THE SINNER? 

From Immortality, New York, March. 
By Dr. Franklin A. Thomas 

Here are some of the most important sta- 
tistics of 1910, that it has ever been our 
fortune to come in contact with, statistics 
that should be in the hands of every clergy- 
man in the United States, statistics that show 
us where our duties lie and should be care- 
fully studied. Here is a summary of them: 

Population of the United States, 1910, 
91,972,276. Church members in the United 
States, 34,517,377. Per cent of church mem- 
bers to the entire population, thirty-six. 
Number of criminals in the United States 
penitentiaries, 23,373. Number of criminals 
that profess the Christian religion, 17,711, 
showing that while there is one third of the 
population of this country belonging to the 
churches, they furnish three fourths of our 
criminals. What is the matter? Shall we 



Does Church Save Sinner? 397 

keep on singing, " The old time religion is 
good enough for me? " 

These statistics given herein itemize the 
different denominations to which the crim- 
inals are affiliated from four different States, 
showing that Catholics take the lead, followed 
by the Baptists, then the Methodists, and so 
on. A great many that are not enumerated 
as belonging to the Christian religion are 
Jews and Pagans, and not one Spiritualist is 
doing penal service in the United States? 
Are there no Spiritualists in the United 
States? 

A good Catholic the other day asked the 
Priest, " Father, why is it that these Spirit- 
ualists, New Thought people and Liberalists 
are such good people? " The Priest replied, 
" They have to be, my son, they have no God 
to forgive them, nor Priest to say Mass over 
them." 

We were asked by a strict adherent of the 
orthodox religion this question, " Do you 
believe, sir, that the doctrine of Spiritualism 
has as beneficial effect upon humanity as the 
Christian faith? " 

" We believe, sir, that the doctrines of 
modern Spiritualism constitute an emancipa- 
tion proclamation that shall characterize the 



398 SPIRITUALISM 

regeneration of the entire human family; 
not only that, but it holds in solution the 
entire problem of human life." 

" But," he says, " I can not understand 
how you expect to neutralize sin and save 
man when you do not believe in a just God 
that either rewards or punishes in accord- 
ance with the life we lead, and who passes 
judgment upon us, and as you do not believe 
in the atonement and forgiveness of sin 
through the blood of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ, how do you expect to save 
man? " 

If a belief in the blood of Christ, and the 
power of a just God to forgive sin, according 
to your Christian plan of salvation, is the 
only way that mankind can enter the king- 
dom of Heaven, and those who do not believe 
are condemned to everlasting punishment, 
then conditions in the United States are de- 
plorable in the extreme. 

According to the authentic statistics pro- 
curable, there is only one third of our popu- 
lation that confess the Christian faith, (and 
many of those do not really believe it,) so 
that two thirds of the people of this country 
are doomed! 

Thousands of our noblest men and women, 



Does Church Save Sinner? 399 

nearly all of our scientists, nearly all of the 
advanced thinkers, men and women who have 
been and still are factors in assisting human- 
ity in its onward march, philanthropists, 
leaders in the great movements that char- 
acterize the period in which we live, no 
matter how good and pure, just because they 
do not believe your scheme of salvation, are 
doomed to everlasting punishment ! Think of 
it! Is it not a great commentary on your 
Christian Church religion? You have had the 
world under your religion for nearly two 
thousand years; why do you and your just 
God allow such conditions to exist? 

According to the last statistics that we 
have, that were taken on the religious beliefs 
of the inmates of the Missouri penitentiary 
on March 29th, 1908, over 80 per cent of the 
convicts were reared in the Orthodox Sunday 
Schools and Churches. Do you suppose that 
they committed their sin believing that at the 
last moment they could ask forgiveness, con- 
fess belief in Christ and be washed as white 
as snow and enter the Kingdom of Heaven 
without a spot? Has such a belief a tendency 
to neutralize sin, or has it a tendency toward 
the committal of sin? 

Spiritualism will neutralize sin, by teach- 



400 SPIRITUALISM 

ing that there is absolutely no such thing as 
forgiveness of sin without paying the full 
penalty of your transgressions and moral 
responsibility. Nine-tenths of the sin com- 
mitted is planned in secrecy and depends on 
secrecy for its fulfillment and secrecy to 
protect them from the law, and most of them, 
depend on the Christian scheme of salvation 
for forgiveness; while, upon the other hand, 
Spiritualism proves that there is no such 
thing as secrecy and that the eyes of the 
Angelic Host of Heaven, of Mother, Father, 
Wife, Sister, or Brother are continually upon 
you and that your every action is known to 
the multitude. 

We are living in a period when mankind 
is asserting and using that divine prerogative 
of the human mind, " reason/" and the air 
is vibrant and filled with interrogations; 
among the most important is this, by what 
law of mathematics, judgment, reason, or 
natural principles, can two contradicting 
beliefs both be Truth? For instance, we have 
one hundred and sixty different religious 
denominations in the United States, with 
their beliefs and confessions of faith; many 
of them are diametrically opposite. Catholics 
believe that the only route to eternal life 



Does Church Save Sinner? 401 

and happiness is through the teachings and 
doctrines of their church, and nearly every 
other denomination puts forth the same claim, 
that their way is the only one. The Catholic 
Church teaches that in order to secure eter- 
nal life, one must become a communicant and 
partake of the sacrament, while a hundred 
other churches deny that necessity, and 
point out a different route to the same goal. 
Can they all be right? 

Does it not appear like one of those inex- 
plicable freaks of nature, that men in this 
enlightened age, when science has made such 
wonderful discoveries, the laws of nature 
being so well understood and demonstrated 
in the various laboratories and observatories 
of the world, and when the units of civiliza- 
tion have acquired a knowledge far in ad- 
vance of any known period of the history of 
the world, still conscientiously believe in the 
doctrines of transubstantiation, or consub- 
stantiation; believe that any priest, or other 
ecclesiastic can, by chanting a litany, or 
praying over a bit of bread and a glass of 
wine, at the Holy Eucharist, transform that 
bread and wine into the actual flesh and 
blood of Jesus Christ, and the bread and 
wine cease to exist as bread and wine? A 



402 SPIRITUALISM 

mortal man bound by the limitations of the 
physical body having such marvelous power; 
do you believe it? If so, are you not bound 
in mental bondage to a priestly hierarchy, to 
a pagan mythology? 

A belief in Plato or Socrates does not make 
a person a philosopher, as a belief in Euclid 
does not make a man a Geometrician. A 
belief in another person's qualifications can 
not and does not induce these qualities in us. 
It is only by the slow process of mental and 
intellectual unfoldment, that man's nature is 
improved or the cortical area of his brain 
raised and qualified for higher comprehension 
of duty, of personal effort and obligation. 
This idea is fully sustained by the science of 
phsyiology, and for this process of evolution 
and unfolding we inaugurate and establish 
our system of schools and colleges. It is as 
rational to affirm that a belief in Sir Hum- 
phrey Davy makes a man a Chemist, or a 
belief in Herschel makes a man an astron- 
omer, as to affirm that belief in Jesus Christ 
turns a sinner into a saint. 

Believing in Christ or a thousand Jesus 
Christs, (if it could so be,) after a person 
has done wrong, will not right that wrong, 
nor pay the penalty for the wrong in this 



Does Church Save Sinner? 403 

world or in the world hereafter. God did not 
make us do the wrong; we did it ourselves, 
and thus we must pay for our wrong-doing 
by suffering. 

Instantaneous conversion to God or to Jesus 
Christ at the last moment will never save us 
nor wash away our sins after we have done 
wrong. God never damns, nor sends any of 
us to so-called Hell. We do that ourselves, 
and we do damn ourselves when we do wrong; 
that is Hell, and the only Hell there is. 

No person can attend a course of lectures 
in any of the Spiritualist churches without 
being a better man or woman, for there you 
are taught the psychic laws of nature, and 
the astonishing fact that there is no such 
thing as secrecy, but you are continuously 
under the surveillance of invisible intelli- 
gences. When we learn that truth, we will 
many times halt on the threshold of crime, 
or injustice towards others. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

AGAIN, WHY THE BIBLE SHOULD NOT BE 
SCATTERED BROADCAST* 

In the issue of the Times, March 3rd., A. 
G. F. replied to my article of February 24th, 
"Why the Bible Should not be Scattered 
Broadcast." 

I was taught that the Bible is divine; I 
believed it. But in a fortunate hour I lis- 
tened to the voice of Reason ; I examined the 
claims of its advocates; I read it, and the 
halo of holiness surrounding the Old Book 
vanished. 

In a discussion of this question the cham- 
pion of the Bible is placed at a tremendous 
disadvantage, is handicapped as it were, at 
the very commencement by this fact: While 
both the advocates and opponents of Bible 
divinity admit that man exists and has 
written books, it has not been proven that 

*The Editor of the Tampa Daily Times refused to publish 
this, my reply to A. G. F.'s communication. 

F. A. T. 



Again, Why Bible Not Scattered 405 

a God even exists, much less that he has 
written or inspired a book. But let us con- 
cede, for the sake of argument, that there 
is a God ; that he is all-powerful, all-wise, and 
all-just; and that he can write or inspire a 
book. Is the Bible the work of such a being? 
It is not. 

I contend that the Bible does not present 
an infallible moral standard and I have given 
valid reasons why it does not. So long as men's 
minds are confused and corrupted by these 
conflicting and demoralizing teachings, so 
long will immorality prevail. You can not 
make men moral while they accept as their 
moral guide a book which sanctions every 
crime and presents as the best models of 
human excellence the most notorious villains. 
You can not make them moral by teaching 
them that a lie is better for being called 
inspired, that a vice becomes a virtue with 
age, that a dead rogue should be canonized 
and a live one killed. 

You may contend that I mistake the mean- 
ing of what I have quoted from this book, 
but the language is too plain to be mistaken. 
Do not tell me that it states one thing and 
means another. This is, you affirm, the word 
of your God. Is your God wanting in candor? 



406 SPIRITUALISM 

A. G. F. says: "The Bible has withstood 
many fierce attacks." 

We are triumphantly told that the Bible 
has withstood the assaults of critics for two 
thousand years, but as much can be said of 
other sacred books. Any business will thrive 
as long as it is profitable. Bibles will be 
printed as long as there is a demand for 
them; and there will be a demand for them 
as long as priests do a lucrative business with 
them. Considering their abilities, the venders 
of the Gospel are among the best paid men 
in the world today. The wealth of men and 
the smiles of women are bestowed upon them 
more lavishly than upon any other class. 
There are thousands in the ministry enjoy- 
ing comfortable, even luxurious, living who 
would eke out a miserable existence in any 
other vocation. 

A. G. F. says : " In part the Holy Bible is 
a divine volume." 

If the Bible were divine there would be 
perfect harmony in all its statements. One 
contradiction is fatal to the claim of inerr- 
ancy and divinity. Now the Bible contains 
not merely one, but hundreds of contradic- 
tions. Nearly every book contains state- 
ments that are contradicted by the writers of 



Again, Why Bible Not Scattered 407 

other books. This is especially true of the 
four Gospels. The writers of these agree 
that a being called Jesus Christ lived and 
died; but concerning nearly every event con- 
nected with his life and death they disagree. 
Human discord, and not divine harmony 
dwells in the pages of the Bible. 

If the Bible were of divine origin, its moral 
teachings would be divine. It would be what 
its adherents affirm it to be, an infallible 
moral guide. But its moral teachings are 
not divine, it is not an infallible moral guide. 
It contains like other Bibles, some moral pre- 
cepts, but it also sanctions nearly every crime 
and vice. War and murder, bigotry and perse- 
cution, tyranny and slavery, demonism and 
witchcraft, adultery and prostitution, drunk- 
enness, vagrancy, robbery and cheating, 
falsehood and deception, are all authorized 
and commended by this book. It can not, 
therefore, be divine. 

There are a hundred versions and trans- 
lations of the books of the Bible. No two 
versions of any book agree. The translators 
and copyists have altered nearly every para- 
graph. The earlier versions alone contain 
more than 100,000 different readings. The 
original text no longer exists and can not be 



408 SPIRITUALISM 

restored. Every version, it is admitted, 
abounds with corruptions. Now, as I stated 
in my former article on this subject, to assert 
that a book is at the same time divine and 
corrupt is a contradiction of terms. God, it 
is affirmed, is all-wise, all-powerful, and all- 
just. If he is all-wise, he knew when his 
work was being corrupted ; if he is all-power- 
ful, he could have prevented it; if he is all- 
just, he would have prevented it. This God, 
it is declared, is everywhere and sees every- 
thing. He watches the sparrows when they 
fall and numbers the hairs of our heads. He 
knows the secrets of every heart. If he made 
a revelation to his children, upon the accept- 
ance and observance of which depends their 
eternal happiness, and then knowingly and 
wilfully allowed this revelation to be per- 
verted and misunderstood, he is not a just 
God. 

A. G. F. says: " Had he [Dr. Thomas] 
seen light in a land where the Bible has 
never gone he might have been fed by his 
mother to the angry crocodiles. This the 
heathen mother does to appease the wrath of 
an offended God. The only book that teaches 
her better is the Bible." 

Bible lands, we are told, are more moral 



Again, Why Bible Not Scattered 409 

than other lands. This is false. The moral- 
ity of pagan China and Japan, without the 
Bible, is not inferior to that of Christian 
Europe. Modern Europe, with its partial 
rejection of the Bible, is superior in morality 
to medieval Europe with its full acceptance 
of it. The morals of the people have im- 
proved in about the same ratio that their 
faith in the Book has declined. A further 
declination of faith will bring a further im- 
provement in morals. In Christian countries 
those who have discarded its teachings are 
morally superior to those who still accept 
them. It is the ignorant who are the most 
devout believers in this book. The intelli- 
gence and morality to be found in Christian 
lands are not the results of Bible teaching, 
but exist in spite of them. 

That some great and good men have com- 
mended the Bible as a moral guide is true. 
These commendations are given wide pub- 
licity. But the testimonials of these men 
are, for the most part, not the result of care- 
ful reading and study. They have been 
inspired by the teachings of childhood, by 
the sentiment that prevails around them, or 
by a perusal of only the choicest portions of 
the book. These testimonials, too, are mostly 



410 SPIRITUALISM 

from men who, while expressing admiration 
for many of its teachings, do not believe and 
do not profess to believe in its divinity. 

A, G. F. says : " The Doctor in his article 
seems to be wonderfully interested in woman. 
He is forgetful of the fact that where the 
Bible has not gone woman is a beast of 
burden — born in abject slavery. There she 
is a slave, a beast to satisfy the lascivious 
lusts of the brute beast man. The Bible lifts 
her from this low state of degradation. It 
elevates her as his companion and helpmate. 
Of all characters in the world, woman should 
be a friend to the Bible." 

I refuse to accept the Bible as a moral 
guide because it has degraded woman. The 
holy offices of wife and mother it covers with 
reproach. Its teachings carried out, as they 
were during the centuries of Christian rule, 
leave woman but two paths in which to tread 
— the one leading into slavery, the other into 
exile. Servitude in the house of a husband, 
or self -banishment into a convent. These are 
the sad alternatives presented for her choice. 

" Thy desire shall be to thy husband and 
he shall rule over thee." Gen. 3:16. 

" Wives submit yourselves to your own 
husbands." Col. 3:18. 



Again, Why Bible Not Scattered 411 

"As the church is subject unto Christ so 
let wives be to their own husbands in every- 
thing." Eph. 5:24. 

" Let your women keep silent in the 
churches for it is not permitted unto them 
to speak, but they are commanded to be under 
obedience, as also saith the law. And if 
they will learn anything, let them ask their 
husbands at home, for it is a shame for a 
woman to speak in the church." 1 Cor. 
14:34, 35. 

" Ye wives, be in subjection to your own 
husbands .... For after this manner in the 
old times the holy women also, who trusted 
in God, adorned themselves, being in sub- 
jection to their own husbands, even as Sarah 
obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord." 1 Peter 
3:1, 5-6. 

" Let the woman learn in silence with all 
subjection. But I suffer not a woman to 
teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, 
but to be in silence. For Adam was first 
formed, then Eve. And Adam was not de- 
ceived, but the woman being deceived was 
in the transgression." 1 Tim. 2:11, 14. 

Oh, the unspeakable outrages that woman 
has suffered because of that old Jewish fable ! 

The teachings of the Bible respecting mar- 



412 SPIRITUALISM 

riage are an insult to every married woman. 
Christ discouraged marriage, (Matt. 19:10, 
12), while a more despicable dissertation on 
marriage than St. Paul gave in the seventh 
chapter of 1st Corinthians was never penned. 

The laws of the Bible in regard to divorce 
are most unjust. A husband is permitted to 
divorce his wife if she displeases him, while 
a wife is not allowed to obtain a divorce for 
any cause whatsoever. 

" Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise 
up evil against thee out of thine own house 
and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, 
and give them unto thy neighbor, and he 
shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this 
sun." 2 Sam. 12:11. 

Referring to the Bible, America's greatest 
woman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, says: "I 
know of no other books that so fully teach 
subjection and degradation of woman." Brave 
Helen Gardener says: " Every injustice that 
has ever been fastened upon women in a 
Christian country has been authorized by 
the Bible and riveted and perpetuated by the 
pupit." (Men, Women and Gods, page 14.) 

" Women are indebted today for their 
emancipation from a position of hopeless 
degradation not to their religion nor to 



Again, Why Bible Not Scattered 413 

Jehovah, but to the justice and honor of 
the men who have defied his commandments. 
She does not crouch today where St. Paul 
tried to bind her, she owes it to the men who 
are grand and brave enough to ignore St. 
Paul, and rise superior to his God." (Ibid, 
page 30.) 

George W. Foote of England says : " It 
will yet be the proud boast of woman that 
she never contributed a line to the Bible/' 

A. G. F. says: " Why should the writing 
of any book embarrass a woman and not a 
man? " Because woman is more sensitive and 
more refined than the brute, man, and can 
not stand reading said book's immoral teach- 
ings, and vile or indecent tales without being 
much embarrassed; while man, if he ever 
had any modesty or self respect, has lost it, 
or he never would have used such vulgar and 
obscene language and have written such inde- 
cent tales; and men do not deserve the same 
respect that women do. 

A. G. F. says : " God does not write as 
man. He tells the bad as well as the good 
about friend or foe. I challenge him [Dr. 
Thomas] to tell the same in as decent lan- 
guage as the Bible has it. * Unto the pure all 
things are pure.' " 



414 SPIRITUALISM 

The Rev. Father Maguire, Catholic, in his 
debate with the Rev. Mr. Greg, at Dublin, 
gave utterance to the following: "I beg of 
you not to continue such a practice; it is dis- 
reputable. I will ask Mr. Greg a question 
(and I beg of you, my brethren of the Prot- 
estant Church, to bear this in mind) I will 
ask him if he dare to take up the Bible and 
read from the book of Genesis the fact of 
Onan — I ask him will he read that? Will 
he read the facts relative to Lot and his two 
daughters? Will he read these and many 
other passages which I could point out to 
him in the Holy Bible, which I would not 
take one thousand guineas, nay all the money 
in the world, and read them here today? " 

Many passages are expressed in language 
so vulgar and obscene that decency forbids me 
to repeat them through the press, in order 
to answer your questions; furthermore, I do 
not believe in using such language or in 
reading a book that contains such language; 
and those who advocate the reading of it 
are the enemies of virtue and the promoters 
of vice. 

James Anthony Froude says : " Consider- 
ing all the heresies, the enormous crimes, the 
wickedness, the astounding follies which the 



Again, Why Bible Not Scattered 415 

Bible has been made to justify, and which its 
indiscriminate reading has suggested; con- 
sidering that it has been indeed the sword 
which our Lord said He was sending, and 
that not the devil himself could have invented 
an implement more potent to fill the hated 
world with lies and blood and fury, I think 
certainly that to send hawkers over the world 
loaded with copies of this book, scattering 
it in all places, among all persons — is the 
most culpable folly of which it is possible, for 
man to be guilty." 

A. G. F. says: " Without the light of the 
Bible, ' human experience ' leads man farther 
into idolatry and heathenism. Where the 
Bible is unknown ignorance and superstition 
prevail." 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
ignorance. This fear has kept the world in 
intellectual bondage. It is a flaming sword 
that priestcraft has placed in every highway 
of learning to frighten away the timid 
searchers after truth. 

" The Clergy, with a few honorable excep- 
tions," says Buckle, "have in all modern 
countries been avowed enemies of the diffu- 
sion of knowledge, the danger of which to 



416 SPIRITUALISM 

their own profession they, by a certain in- 
tinet, seem always to have perceived." 

The Bible and the religion emanating from 
it are the fruitful parents of ignorance and 
idiocy. They demand a sacrifice of the very 
attribute which exalts the man of sense above 
the idiot. They bid him pluck out the eyes 
of Reason, and in their place insert the 
sightless balls of Faith. " Reason should be 
destroyed in all Christians," says Luther. 
(L. Ungeds. Pred., p. 106.) 

" One destitute of reason," is a phrase 
employed by Webster to define the word 
"fool." "We are fools for Christ's sake," 
exclaims St. Paul. 1 Cor. 4:10. 

A. G. F. says: " There is not a truth taught 
nor a virtue emphasized in all the books of 
that ' Public Library ' that does not owe its 
origin to the Bible. To it we are indebted 
for all blessings of life. Without the Bible 
there would be no libraries, schools, asylums 
or civilization, and life, liberty and property 
would be endangered." 

Holy Bible, Sunday School Edition Illus- 
trated, Page 64 — XIII, Brief Historical 
Summary of the Interval between the Old 
and New Testament, taken chiefly from Jose- 
phus and the Books of the Maccabees which 



Again, Why Bible Not Scattered 417 

are older books than the Holy Bible. They 
and hundreds of others do not owe their 
origin to the Bible, nor even mention the 
Bible. 

The United States of America, the most 
Christian country on earth, is the only coun- 
try where men and women are burned at the 
stake uncondemned and untried. AND YOU 
call this civilization? 

A. G. F. says: " That genuine article is 
the New Testament Church, built upon Jesus 
Christ as the chief cornerstone. ,, 

The New Testament is based upon the Old. 
If the foundation is fallible, the superstruc- 
ture must be fallible also. Both have been 
declared canonical, both the bound in the 
same volume and labeled " Holy Bible." The 
chief apostle declared the writing of the Old 
Testament to be divine, a claim he did not 
make for the writings of the New. Besides, 
the New Testament is as full of errors as 
the Old. 

It has been shown that the Four Gospels 
are not genuine — that they were not written 
by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is to 
the credit of these men that they were not; 
a knowledge of the fact relieves the Apostles 
and their companions of a very discreditable 



418 SPIRITUALISM 

imputation. Were four witnesses to testify 
in a court of justice and contradict each other 
as do the Evangelists, they would be prose- 
cuted for perjury. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

WHY GOD DOESN'T KILL THE DEVIL 

The question has been asked by those 
Who think their " heads are level/' 

" Why, in the name of human woes, 
Does God not kill the Devil." 

I think it is an easy task, 

To give the information, 
And for the good of those who ask, 

I'll try the explanation. 

When there was " war in Heaven " above, 
He would have killed him gladly. 

But now his hate has changed to love, 
He would not act so madly. 

Besides the world with those is filled, 
Who get their bread by preaching. 

And if the Devil should be killed, 
Who'd pay them for their teaching? 

With this kind aid the preachers run 



420 SPIRITUALISM 

The thing to suit their notion, 
If he were dead naught could be done 
To keep the ball in motion. 

But while he lives, a horde of priests 

In luxuries may revel, 
And fat on goose and chicken feasts, 

While talking of the Devil. 

By many struggles they have gained 

A mighty reputation ; 
But if the Devil should be slain, 

'Way goes their occupation. 

The Bible God could not enjoy 

Himself, and keep things running; 

His friends would be without employ, 
Without the Devil's cunning. 

The goose which lays the golden egg 
On which God's cohorts fatten 

He will not kill, no use to beg, 
His head he will not flatten. 

The preachers would be unemployed, 
And down would go each steeple, 

Their power to rule would be destroyed, 
They would be common people. 



Why Devil Isn't Killed 421 

No doubt the Devil will survive 

While man is in condition 
To help old errors keep alive, 

By hugging superstition. 

From my Scrapbook. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

WHO WROTE THE BIBLE, AND WHEN 

March 22. 
From The Tampa (Florida) Daily Times. 

Asia has been the fruitful source of relig- 
ions and Bibles. The seven great religions 
of the world, Bramanism, Buddhism, Con- 
fucianism, Zoroastrianism, Mohammedan- 
ism, Judaism and Christianity — all had 
their birth in Asia; and the so-called sacred 
books which are used to uphold and propa- 
gate these faiths were nearly all written by 
Asiatic priests and prophets. 

SACRED BOOKS OF INDIA 

Vedas. — The vedas are the oldest Bibles 
in the world. There are four of them, the 
Rigveda, the Yajuweda, the Samaveda and 
the Athawaveda. Devout Hindoos believe 
that these books have always existed — 
that they are co-eternal with God. Scholars 
agree that they are very old, that the Rig- 
veda, the oldest of the four, and one of the 



Who Wrote Bibles 423 

oldest books extant, was composed between 
3,000 and 4,000 years ago. Each Veda is 
complete in itself and consists of religious 
teachings, prayers and hymns. 

Puranas. — The Veda and Puranas are 
the most important of the sacred books of 
the Hindoos. The Puranas, more than any 
other works, have contributed to mould the 
doctrines of the popular Brahmanical relig- 
ion of India. They are eighteen in number, 
of which the Bhagavate, containing a history 
of Krishna, is the one best known. 

Tripitaka.— This is the Buddhist Bible. 
It was compiled 300 years before the Chris- 
tian era. Self conquest and universal charity 
are its fundamental teachings. 

Upanishads. — These are sacred books 
which treat of the Creation, of the Supreme 
Being, of Spirit, Brahma, and of the nature of 
the human soul and its relation to Brahma. 

Tantras. — The tantras are sacred books 
relating chiefly to the God Siva. 

Ramayana. — The Ramayana is one of the 
great epic poems of the world. It gives the 
history of Tama, one of the incarnations of 
the God Vishnu. 

Mahabharata. — This is another epic poem, 
a larger one, containing more than 100,000 



424 SPIRITUALISM 

verses. Like the Ramayana, it is believed 
to be of divine origin. It has been described 
as " The great manual of all that is moral, 
useful and agreeable." 

Institutes of Menu. — Menu is regarded as 
the law giver of the Hindoos, as Moses is of 
the Jews. The Institutes of Menu are in 
many respects similar to the so-called Laws 
of Moses. 

SACRED BOOKS OF CHINA 

Yih King. — This book contains a cosmo- 
logical treatise and a compendium on morals. 
It was written in 1143 B. c. 

Shu King. — This contains the teachings 
and maxims of certain ancient Chinese Kings. 
These are documents over 4000 years old. 

Shi King. — This is the Chinese Hymn 
Book. It contains three hundred sacred 
songs and poems, some of which are very old. 

Le King. — The Le King is a text book on 
manners, customs and ceremonies. It has 
been one of the chief agents in moulding the 
social and religious life of China. 

Chun Tsien. — The Chun Tsien is a histor- 
ical work compiled by Confucius. It gives a 
record of his own times and those immediately 
preceding him. 

The above books, called the Five Kings, 



Who Wrote Bibles 425 

are the canonical books of Confucianism, the 
religion of the educated classes of China, with 
the exceptions noted, they were mostly writ- 
ten or compiled about 500 B. c. They are 
considered sacred by the Chinese, but not like 
other sacred books, a revelation from God. 
Confucius recognized no God. His religion 
is preeminently the religion of this world 
and is thus summed up by him. " The 
observance of the three fundamental laws of 
relation between sovereign and subject, 
father and child, husband and wife, and 
the five capital virtues, — universal charity, 
impartial justice, conformity to ceremonies 
and established usage, rectitude of heart and 
mind, and pure sincerity." 

SACRED BOOKS OF PERSIA 

Zend-Avesta. — This is one of the most 
important of all Bibles of the world, although 
the religion which it teaches numbers but a 
few adherents. It was written by Zoroaster 
and his disciples about 3,000 years ago. It 
was an enormous work in size, covering, it 
is said 1200 parchments. The Zend-Avesta 
proper consisted of twenty-one books. All 
of these, save one and some fragments of the 
others have perished. They dealt chiefly with 



426 SPIRITUALISM 

religion, but touched upon almost every sub- 
ject of interest to mankind. They were be- 
lieved to be a faithful record of the words 
spoken to the great prophet by God himself. 
Both Jews and Christians borrowed much 
from the Zend-Avesta. 

Sadder. — The Sadder is the Bible of the 
modern Parsees, and contains in an abridged 
form the religious teachings of Zoroaster. 

SACRED BOOKS OF ISLAM 

Koran. — The Mohammedans believe that 
divine revelations were given to Adam, Seth, 
Enoch, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and 
Mohammed, and that each successive revela- 
tion in a. measure superseded the preceding 
one. The books given to Adam, Seth, Enoch 
and Abraham have been lost. The Penta- 
teuch, the Psalms and the Four Gospels are ac- 
cepted by them, but the interpolations and cor- 
ruptions of Jews and Christians, they claim 
have greatly impaired their value. The Koran 
is with them the book of books — God's last 
and best revelation to man. It was written 
in rays of light on a tablet before the throne 
of God. A copy bound in white silk and 
bedecked with gems was carried by Gabriel 
to the lower Haven, where from time to time, 



Who Wrote Bibles 427 

during a period of twenty years, portions of 
it were transmitted to Mohammed until the 
whole was given to the world. The book is 
divided into 114 chapters. 

Sunna. — The Sunna is a large work con- 
taining many thousand legends of Moham- 
med. It is a sacred book, but of less authority 
than the Koran. 

SACRED BOOKS OF THE JEWS 

Torah. — The book of the Law, now com- 
monly called the Pentateuch, is the most 
sacred of all Jewish books. Jews as well as 
Christians believe that it was written by 
Moses and dictated by God. It was not 
divided into five books as we have it. In 
the oldest Hebrew manuscripts the entire 
work forms but one book. It was subse- 
quently divided into parshiyoth, or chapters, 
and those into sedarim or sections. 

Nebiim. — The law and the Prophets were 
the Chief Authorities of the Jews. The 
books of the Prophets called Nebiim were 
believed by the orthodox Jews to be divinely 
inspired, but were esteemed of less impor- 
tance than the Torah. 

Cethubim. — This collection of writings 



428 SPIRITUALISM 

comprised the hymns, poems, and other 
books now known as the Hagiographa. 

Talmud. — The Talmud, while not re- 
garded as a divine revelation, like the Law 
and the Prophets, is in some respects the 
most important of Jewish works. It is 
almost a library in itself, and constitutes a 
vast storehouse of information pertaining 
to Jewish history and theology. 

SACRED BOOKS OF THE CHRISTIANS 

Holy Bible. — The Christian Bible consists 
of two collections of small books, one collec- 
tion called the Old Testament, the other the 
New Testament. The Old Testament com- 
prises the Torah, Nebiim, and Cethubim of 
the Jews. It is divided into thirty-nine 
books, including the Apocryphal books ac- 
cepted by the Greek and Roman Catholic 
Church, about fifty. The New Testament 
is a collection of twenty-seven early Christian 
writings which originally appeared in the 
various churches of Asia, Africa and Europe. 

The Bible is but one of many books for 
which divinity is claimed, Christians deny 
the divinity of the other books, however, and 
affirm that they are of human origin — that 
their book is God's only revelation to man- 



Who Wrote Bibles 429 

kind. The Orthodox claim respecting its 
divinity is expressed in the following words: 

" Behind the human authors stood the 
divine Spirit, controlling and suggesting 
every part of their different messages." 
(Birks). 

The title Bible, from the Greek Ta Biblia, 
meaning The Book or more properly, The 
Books, was given to the sacred book of the 
Christians, it is claimed, by Chrysostom in the 
fifth century. 

For a period of one hundred and fifty years 
the sacred books of the Jews alone constituted 
the Christian Bible. 

The books of the Old Testament were called 
The Scripture, or Scriptures, by early Chris- 
tians. After the books of the New Testa- 
ment were recognized as canonical and 
inspired, the terms Old and New Testament 
were employed to distinguish the two divi- 
sions. Tertullian, at the beginning of the 
Third Century, was the first to use the term 
New Testament. 

About one half of the books of the Bible, 
Joshua, Isaiah, Matthew, etc., are named 
after their alleged authors. A few like Ruth 
and Esther, take their names from the lead- 
ing characters of the books. The Pauline 



430 SPIRITUALISM 

Epistles bear the names of the Churches, 
people or persons to whom they were ad- 
dressed. The title of Judges, Kings, Chron- 
icles, Psalms, Proverbs and a few others, 
indicate the subject of the books. 

The division of the books of the Bible into 
chapters was made in the thirteenth century; 
the division into verses, in the sixteenth 
century. These divisions are to a great extent 
mechanical rather than logical. Paragraphs 
are frequently divided, in the formation of 
chapters, and sentences in the formation of 
verses. 

Circumstances rather than merit deter- 
mined the fate of these books. Books of real 
merit and of high authority in some of the 
early churches were cast aside because these 
churches ceased to exist or changed their 
creeds; while books of little merit survived 
as authorities because their teachings sup- 
ported the doctrines which survived. The 
religion of the primitive churches underwent 
many radical changes. The Christianity of 
the second century was not the Christianity 
of the first. Books teaching the new theol- 
ogy superseded those which taught the old, 
and thus the earlier writings became obso- 
lete. Of all the Christian books written prior 



Who Wrote Bibles 431 

to the middle of the second century only a 
few epistles have been retained as author- 
ities. 

There is no proof that all the books of the 
Old Testament existed in a collected form 
before the beginning of the Christian era. 
There is no proof that even the Law and the 
Prophets existed in such a form before the 
Maccabean period. The Rev. Frederick 
Myers, an able authority on the Bible, makes 
this candid admission : " By whom the books 
of the Old Testament were collected into one 
volume, and by what authority made canon- 
ical we do not know." (" Catholic Thoughts 
on the Bible." Page 56.) 

The New Testament did not exist in the 
time of the Apostles. It did not exist in 
the time of the Apostolic Fathers. It was 
not in existence in the middle of the second 
century. 

There was no New Testament in the time 
of Papias. Dr. Samuel Davidson, the highest 
Christian authority on the canon, says: 
" Papias (150 A. D.) knew nothing so far as 
we can learn, of a New Testament canon." 
("Canon of the Bible", Page 123.) 

Justin Martyr knew nothing of a New 
Testament canon. I quote again from Dr. 



432 SPIRITUALISM 

Davidson: " Justin Martyr's canon (150 
A. D.) so far as divine authority and in- 
spiration are concerned, was the Old Testa- 
ment " ("Ibid Page 129). 

For nearly two centuries after the begin- 
ning of the Christian era, the Old Testament 
-— The Old Testament alone — constituted 
the Christian canon. No other books were 
called scripture; no other books were con- 
sidered inspired ; no other books were deemed 
canonical. 

To Irenseus, more than any other man, 
belongs the credit of founding the Roman 
Catholic Church; and to him also belongs 
the credit of founding the New Testament 
Canon, which is a Roman Catholic work. 
No collection of books corresponding to our 
New Testament existed before the time of 
Irenaeus. He was the first to make such a 
collection, and he was the first to claim 
inspiration and divine authority for its 
books. 

Dr. Davidson says : " The conception of 
canonicity and inspiration attaching to the 
New Testament books did not exist till the 
time of Irengeus." ("Canon of the Bible," 
Page 163.) 

In the work of establishing the Roman 



Who Wrote Bibles 433 

Catholic church and the New Testament 
canon Irenseus was succeeded, early in the 
third century, by Tertullian and Clement of 
Alexandria. They adopted the list of books 
made by him. The books adopted by these 
Fathers were selected from a large number 
of Christian writings, then extant — forty 
or more gospels, nearly as many Acts of 
Apostles, a score of Revelations and a hun- 
dred Epistles. Each church had one or more 
books which were used in that church. No 
divine authority however, was ascribed to 
any of them. 

Many believe that the Council of Nice, held 
in 325 A. D., determined what books should 
constitute the Bible. This council did not 
determine the Canon. So far as is known, 
the first church council which acted upon this 
question was the Synod of Laodicea which 
met in 365. 

Various councils, following this, adopted 
canonical lists. One council would admit 
certain books and the next council would 
reject them. The Third Council of Carthage 
in 397 adopted the list of Augustine which 
admitted the Apocryphal books and Revela- 
tion and rejected Lamentations. 

The Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and 



434 SPIRITUALISM 

the Protestant canons, no two of which are 
alike, were fixed by modern councils. The 
council of Trent (1545-1563) determined the 
Roman Catholic Canon. The Greek Catholic 
Canon was determined at Jerusalem in 1672. 

Two divisions of the Protestant church, 
German and English, declared against the 
authority of the Apocryphal books. The 
Westminster Assembly (1647) formally 
adopted the list of books contained in our 
authorized version of the Bible. 

The Church of Latter Day Saints, number- 
ing one half million adherents, and including 
some able Bible scholars, believe that the 
modern book of Mormon is a part of God's 
word, equal in authority and importance to 
the pentateuch or the Four Gospels. 

The greatest name in the records of the 
Protestant church is Martin Luther. He is 
generally recognized as its founder; he is 
considered one of the highest authorities on 
the Bible; he devoted a large portion of his 
life to its study; he made a translation of it 
for his people, a work which is accepted as 
one of the classics of German literature. 
With Luther the Bible superseded the Church 
as a divine Authority, and yet this greatest 
of Protestants rejected no less than six of 



Who Wrote Bibles 435 

the sixty-six books composing the Protestant 
Bible. 

Luther's Bible. — The principal German 
version of the Bible was made by the leader of 
the Protestant reformation. On account of 
its superior literary merits and its large 
circulation it is, next to our authorized ver- 
sion, the most important of the Protestant 
versions. 

Wycliffe's. — The translation of Wycliffe 
which appeared in the latter part of the four- 
teenth century, was the first English trans- 
lation of the Bible. 

Tyndale's. — Tyndale commenced his Eng- 
lish translation of the Bible about the same 
time that Luther commenced his German 
translation. He did not live to complete it, 
and a portion of the Old Testament was 
translated by others. 

King James. — The authorized English ver- 
sion commonly called the King James Bible, 
was published in 1611. It was made by 
forty-seven English scholars, working in six 
companies, two at Oxford, two at Cambridge, 
and two at Westminster. The basis of this 
version is Tyndale's translation. The Apocry- 
phal books, which were not accepted as 
canonical by the English Church, were placed 



436 SPIRITUALISM 

in an appendix. They are now generally 
omitted. The King James Bible is ad- 
mittedly one of the most incorrect versions; 
but dressed in the strong, quaint English of 
Shakespeare's time, it possesses considerable 
literary merit. It has been translated into 
nearly every tongue, and has had a larger 
circulation than all others combined. 

New Version — The new or Revised ver- 
sion of the King James version. The revis- 
ion was made by a committee of twenty-seven 
English scholars, whose work was revised 
by an American committee. It was begun 
in 1870 and finished in 1882. In this version 
the matter is divided into paragraphs in- 
stead of chapters and verses. 

Douay — The Douay Bible is an English 
translation of the vulgate. It is the standard 
English version of the Roman Catholic 
Church. 

The first Bible printed in this country was 
in the Natick Indian language in 1663 by 
John Eliot. The first English Bible printed 
in this country was 1782. 

The foregoing are but a few of the numer- 
ous versions of the Bible, ancient and mod- 
ern, that have appeared. Nearly every nation 
of Europe has from one to a score. Luther's 



Who Wrote Bibles 437 

version is nearly 400 years old, and yet 
Germany had seventeen translations, and con- 
sequently seventeen versions, before Luther's 
was published. England had many versions 
besides those named. There are a hundred 
versions and translations of the books of the 
Bible. No two versions agree. 

Franklin A. Thomas. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

THE SEVENTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF 
MODERN SPIRITUALISM 

Its Origin, Early History, and Progress 

in America. 

By Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S. 

From The Tampa Daily Times, March 31. 

On a lonely country road about one mile 
from the station of Newark, New York, was 
situated at one time a modest cottage which 
has become one of the most notable houses 
in the world. For here, according to the 
Spiritualists, was proven the continuity of 
life beyond the grave; here the hope of im- 
mortality. The greatest goal of the race was 
reached. Here the first spiritual telegraphy 
known to the world was instituted through 
the agency of excarnate spirits and the me- 
diumship of children; here a Philosophy and 
Religion were founded. To this cottage in 
December, 1848, moved John D. Fox with 
his wife and two little daughters. 



Anniversary Modern Spiritualism 439 

The parents, a worthy couple, had, for 
many years, been members of the Methodist 
Church and bore a record of honor and strict 
integrity, but the most unwelcome trust im- 
posed upon them, of becoming pioneers of 
Spiritualism, brought with it overwhelming 
sorrow, scorn, ostracism and persecution. 
They were expelled from Church Fellowship, 
and so great were their trials, that the hair 
of the Mother turned white in a single week. 

About a month after their occupancy of 
this wooden dwelling, strange noises began 
to occur, — loud raps, footsteps, a tremulous 
jar of the house, with other demonstrations, 
the cause of which was searched for in vain 
by people of all walks of life. This continued 
until on the night of March 31st of the fol- 
lowing year when intelligent responses to 
questions were gained by raps. One rap 
meant "No;" two, "Don't know;" and 
three, " Yes," By this means it was learned 
that this little house had been the scene of 
a tragic event, the murder of a peddler, 
Charles B. Rosna, who was passing the 
night there. The motive of the crime was 
to get $500 which he carried, and the con- 
tents of his pack. His body was buried in 
the cellar, so the spirit affirmed, which was 



440 SPIRITUALISM 

afterwards confirmed by finding the bones 
in the place indicated. 

This cottage has been bought by the Spirit- 
ualists, to preserve it, and they have moved 
it to the Spiritualist Camp Meeting Ground 
at Lilly Dale, New York. 

On the 31st day of March, the seventy- 
fourth Anniversary, these events are told 
in song and story all over the civilized world. 
Go where you will, you will hear the message, 
"There is no death/' which has been pro- 
claimed from this humble beginning. There 
are millions of Spiritualists in the United 
States and all over the world. There are 
nearly two hundred distinct papers and mag- 
azines devoted to the interest of modern 
Spiritualism, and printed in all languages. 
Churches have been built, temples erected, 
societies organized, children's progressive 
lyceums instituted, while thousands of books 
have been printed on Spiritualism and occult 
subjects. In our country we have The Order 
of Fraternal Spiritualists, The Independent 
Spiritualist Association, The National Me- 
diums' Alliance, The National Spiritualist Al- 
liance, The International Spiritualists' Union, 
The National Spiritualist Association, and 



Anniversary Modern Spiritualism 441 

state associations, with affiliated local soci- 
eties in every state in the Union. 

The pioneers of the movement suffered 
many hardships. The early Spiritualists who 
accepted the revelation were sneered at and 
persecuted. The Fox Sisters were accused of 
deception and at one time were rescued from 
an angry mob by Isaac and Amy Post. But 
the passing years have fully vindicated them. 

Some of our daily papers and leading mag- 
azines are ever catering toward sensational- 
ism, thus filling the minds of the general 
public with erroneous ideas until they con- 
found and associate Spiritualism with for- 
tune-telling, divination, prophecy, witchcraft, 
deviPs-works, etc., all of which are as foreign 
to true Spiritualism, and have as little to do 
with its true philosophy as they have with 
Catholicism, Methodism, or any other Ism. 

The true workers in the ranks of Spirit- 
ualism do not tell fortunes, give " tips " on 
the stock market, or tell you whom you are 
going to marry. They give you true Spiritual 
advice, which is uplifting in every respect. 

Millions have been convinced of spirit re- 
turn by the chosen instruments of the spirit 
world in the last seventy-four years. The 
result of a more general waiting upon the 



442 SPIRITUALISM 

spirit world and intercommunion therewith, 
would be the banishment of doubt from hu- 
man minds as to the future life, a great 
influx of joy and rejoicing into human lives, 
and much divine consolation to the bereaved 
and afflicted. 

Among the great scientists, scholars, 
authors, philosophers, statesmen, and clergy- 
men who have accepted Spiritualism as the 
philosophy of life and as the basis of belief 
in immortality, we will mention a few : Titus 
Merritt, Dr. Adam Clark, Theodore Parker, 
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elizabeth B. Brown- 
ing, John Ruskin, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 
Victor Hugo, Rev. Dr. Heber Newton, Prof. 
Hyslop, W. T. Stead, Alfred Russell Wallace, 
Sir William Crookes, Lombroso, Flammarion, 
Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 
Dr. J. K. Funk, Rev. Dr. Minot Savage, 
William Lloyd Garrison, Dr. A. J. Davis, 
Johann Zcellner, Dr. J. M. Peebles, besides 
hosts of other scientists and titled people such 
as eminent jurors, artists, literateurs and 
professional people of all walks of life. 



CORROBORATIVE 

The following article is inserted here, from 
The Banner of Life, Boston Mass., which 



Anniversary Modern Spiritualism 443 

copied it from The Boston Journal, November 
23, 1904. 

Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1904 — The 
skeleton of the man supposed to have caused 
the rappings first heard by the Fox Sisters 
in 1848 has been found in the walls of the 
house occupied by the sisters, and clears them 
from the only shadow of doubt held concern- 
ing their sincerity in the discovery of spirit 
communication. 

The Fox sisters declared they learned to 
communicate with the spirit of a man, and 
that he told them he had been murdered and 
buried in the cellar. Repeated excavations 
failed to locate the body, and thus give proof 
positive of their story. 

The discovery was made by school-children 
playing in the cellar of the building in Hydes- 
ville, known as the " Spook house/' where 
the Fox sisters heard the wonderful rappings. 
William H. Hyde, a reputable citizen of 
Clyde, who owns the house, made an investi- 
gation, and found an almost entire human 
skeleton between the earth and crumbling 
cellar walls, undoubtedly that of the wander- 
ing peddler who it was claimed was murdered 
in the east room of the house, and whose 
body was hidden in the cellar. 



444 SPIRITUALISM 

Mr. Hyde has notified relatives of the Fox 
sisters, and the notice of the discovery will 
be sent to the National Order of Spiritualists, 
many of whom remember having made pil- 
grimages to the "Spook House", as it is 
commonly called. The finding of the bones 
practically corroborates the sworn statement 
made by Margaret Fox April 11, 1848. The 
Fox sisters claim to have been disturbed by 
rappings, and finally by a system of signals 
got into communication with the spirit. 

According to Margaret Fox's statement, 
the spirit was that of a peddler, who described 
how he had been murdered in the house, his 
body being buried in the cellar. There were 
numerous witnesses to the rappings, but, 
although the cellar had been dug up many 
times, no traces of the body were found until 
the crumbling cellar walls revealed the skel- 
eton. 

The name of the murdered man, according 
to his revelation to the Fox sisters, was 
Charles Rosna, and the murderer a man 
named Bell. In 1847 the house was occupied 
by Michael Weekman, a poor laborer. He 
and his family became troubled by these 
mysterious rappings, which followed in suc- 
cession at different intervals, especially dur- 



Anniversary Modern Spiritualism 445 

ing the night. The family became so broken 
with fear and loss of sleep that they vacated 
the house. On December 11, the Fox family 
moved in and two months later the rappings 
were resumed and the family became fright- 
ened. Finally Margaret and Cathie grew 
bold and asked questions which were an- 
swered, revealing the murder. 

Note by the editor of the Banner of Life. — 
Attention is drawn to the fact that a portion 
of the skull (which the foregoing report 
declares to be missing) was discovered dur- 
ing the digging operations at the time of the 
" Knockings " — 1848. 



NOT HAS, BUT IS 

For man to say he has a soul, 

Is not the truth to say: 
He has no soul but is a soul, 

And has a house of clay. 

Which house is but his transient home, 

Ere long he'll move away, 
And leave it cold and tenantless, 

To moulder and decay. 



446 SPIRITUALISM 

Were I to say I have myself, 

'Twould be a phrase as fit, 
As 'twould to say I have a soul 

For I myself am it. 

This clay with which I now am clad, 

Is not I as some suppose; 
Because when shed 'twill lie as dead, 

As do my worn-out clothes. 

When I am gone don't view my clay, 

And think that I am dead, 
For what you see will not be me, 

But only what I've shed. 

If these right views were more impressed 

Upon the human mind, 
Man then would feel himself more blessed 

And more to faith inclined. 

For when he thinks himself must die, 
And that his soul — not him — 

Is all that shall be borne on high, 
So long will death look grim. 

But when he learns he is a soul, 
And that his clay alone 



Anniversary Modern Spiritualism 447 

Is all that dies, he'll then rejoice 
With joy before unknown. 

Death then will seem no sadder thing 

Than casting off the clay- 
To glide with guardian angels 

To the spirit land away. 

May heaven haste the happy day 

When all shall comprehend 
That they themselves shall never die — 

Shall never have an end. 

For when the heavenly day shall come, 
All earthly tongues shall sing, 

grave where is thy victory; 
death where is thy sting! 

From my Scrapbook. 



From The Tampa Daily Times, April 15. 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas of 
Brattleboro, Vt., having visited many im- 
portant places on the west coast, and making 
Tampa their home for the winter, will leave 
Monday for Jacksonville for a brief stay, 
visiting friends, before sailing from there 
Wednesday on the steamer Persian, stopping 



448 SPIRITUALISM 

en route at Savannah, Norfolk, Baltimore and 
Boston before going to Brattleboro. 
At Jacksonville, Florida. 
From The Florida Times-Union, April 18. 
Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas of 
Brattleboro, Vermont, who have been in 
Tampa all winter, are visiting friends here 
for a few days. They will sail Wednesday for 
Boston on the steamer Persian. Dr. Thomas 
is a firm believer in a brilliant future for 
Florida. 



From The Daily Reformer, Brattleboro, Vt, 
April 23. 
Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas, who 
have been spending the winter in Tampa, 
Florida, will leave there April 17th for Jack- 
sonville, where they will visit for a short time 
with friends. They will sail from there on 
the Merchants' and Miners' Transportation 
Company's steamer, Persian, and expect to 
arrive in Boston April 28. They will come 
to Brattleboro May 1st to remain during the 
summer. Dr. Thomas writes that tourists 
are now leaving Tampa by the hundreds 
every day. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

THE TRUE RESURRECTION 

By Dr. Franklin A. Thomas 

From Immortality, New York, April. 

Theme of a discourse given at the First 
Spiritualist Soul Science Church, Tampa, 
Florida, Sunday, February 5, 1922. 

After consideration of any proposition 
from every point of view, the critical ob- 
server and analytical mind will invariably 
decide that there is only one way to arrive 
at a proper understanding of any question 
under consideration, and that is, to weigh 
carefully the evidence on all sides, and then 
subject it, without prejudice, to that living 
attribute of the human mind, " Reason," 
which is the co-partner of judgment. 

No person is capable of rendering a correct 
decision on any question if he allows pre- 
conceived ideas, or previous opinions, to inter- 
fere with his reason and judgment. No 
judge on the bench of justice is capable of 



450 SPIRITUALISM 

rendering a just decision upon a point in 
controversy, if his mind is biased, or if he 
has previously formed an opinion in regard 
to the guilt or innocence of the parties in 
the case. 

A true investigator of any subject is one 
who holds Truth at inestimable value, and 
stands ready to sacrifice any previous opinion, 
or elaborate inductions, as soon as they are 
found to be erroneous. 

Our education and knowledge are matters 
of unfoldment, and are always in accord with 
the environment and the conditions under 
which we obtain our experience, experience 
being the only real teacher; therefore, your 
opinions and beliefs may be diametrically op- 
posite to mine, each of us honest, conscien- 
tious and truthful in our opinion, these 
opinions being the outgrowth of conditions 
and customs under which we have been reared 
and educated. 

Therefore let us be charitable at least, and 
remember that finite men can not be perfect, 
and each and every one of us is no exception 
to the rule. 

There are theological sects: they believe 
in the resurrection of the physical body, and 



The True Resurrection 451 

nearly all orthodox religions believe in the 
physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Resurrection means a rising again, a 
springing again into life and vitality. View- 
ing that definition, all organic life is a 
resurrection. If we analyze the soil from 
which all vegetable life springs, we find that 
the only elements contained therein from 
which nutrition or sustenance can be obtained 
is decomposed organic matter. Such being 
the case, the physical in both animal and 
vegetable is a veritable resurrection. 

Now think of the general resurrection of 
the physical body, when untold millions of 
bodies shall be called from their beds of dust, 
among them the martyrs, whose bodies have 
been burned to ashes and scattered to the 
four winds of heaven by their persecutors 
to prevent their resurrection. Thus their 
ashes have fattened the soil, as our battle 
fields were enriched by the flesh, blood and 
bones of the poor soldiers. This soil has 
produced vegetation which has been eaten by 
the cattle upon a thousand hills ; those cattle, 
made fat upon that which was once flesh of 
our flesh, bone of our bone, have in their turn 
been slain and eaten and gone into our bodies, 
have borne fruits and cereals that have also 



452 SPIRITUALISM 

been eaten by men ; the fluids that have com- 
posed their bodies have risen many times in 
the atmosphere, condensing, falling in dews 
and showers, washing the banks of rivers 
and being drunk by man and beast. While 
the very elements that entered into the com- 
position of their bodies have been thus eaten 
by man and beast, where were their spirits 
during that time? Who is going to claim 
these elements at the resurrection? 

I find it is asserted by scientific writers 
that the number of persons who have existed 
on this globe is nearly thirty-seven quin- 
tillions, an amount that is utterly incompre- 
hesible to the human mind; but if that 
number be reduced to smaller numbers by 
reducing all the terra firma on the globe to 
square rods and dividing thirty-seven quin- 
tillions by that number, we find that there 
have existed 1,283 human beings for every 
square rod of dry land on the earth, one 
square rod being sufficient to accommodate 
only about ten graves with each grave 
containing one hundred and twenty-eight 
persons. Therefore, this earth has been 
dug over one hundred and twenty-eight 
times to bury its dead. By this it will 
be seen that there is not enough dirt in the 



The True Resurrection 453 

world to rebuild all the bodies that have 
existed, let alone the millions upon millions 
that will still exist before the resurrection 
day. But some may claim that God will turn 
the entire globe into physical bodies, which 
is about as reasonable as many religious 
doctrines, or many of the myths contained in 
religious literature today. 

But there are many theologians who do 
not believe in the resurrection of the physical 
body, who do believe that Jesus was physi- 
cally resurrected; who hold it to be a Bible 
statement, and, therefore, a truth. Let us 
examine into the proposition: 

Jesus gave two tests by which to try those 
born of the Spirit: First, "That which is 
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit." (St. John 3:6.) 

Second, " They who are born of the Spirit, 
like the wind, go and come, and you cannot 
tell from whence they come or whither they 
go." (St. John 3:8.) 

Now let us apply these rules to Jesus after 
His so-called physical resurrection. The va- 
rious appearances of Jesus are enough to con- 
vince an honest observer that He did not 
bring His flesh up from the grave. Had His 
flesh been made alive, He would have been 



454 SPIRITUALISM 

seen by the whole Jewish nation, and thus 
they would have been convinced of immortal 
life. 

Jesus says, " It is the Spirit that quicken- 
eth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words 
that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and 
they are life.^ (St. John 6:33.) 

" And when He (Jesus) was demanded of 
the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God 
should come, He answered them and said, 
The kingdom of God cometh not with obser- 
vation, neither shall they say, Lo here ! or, lo 
there! for, behold the kingdom of God is 
within you." (St. Luke 17:20, 21.) According 
to Jesus's teaching, how could there be a 
physical resurrection, if it is as Jesus says it 
is, that the kingdom of God is within you? 

And again Jesus says, " But seek ye first 
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 
and all these things shall be added unto you." 
(St. Matthew 6:33.) 

If we will seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, all things shall be 
added unto us. 

We will then know ourselves and know that 
God has given us both material and spiritual 
bodies; with our spiritual eyes we will be 
able to see spiritual as well as material 



The True Resurrection 455 

! 

things, and we will know the work that God 
would have us to do. We will then know that 
the kingdom of God is within us, and that 
we are in Heaven today; and the saying shall 
be fulfilled. 

If the kingdom of God is within us, and the 
kingdom of God is in Heaven, then we are 
in Heaven also. How then could there be a 
physical resurrection? 

Therefore Jesus's resurrection was a spir- 
itual one. He was seen in His spiritual body 
and was recognized by those who knew Him. 

St. Paul said, " Now this I say, Brethren, 
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the king- 
dom of God; neither doth corruption inherit 
incorruption," (1 Corinthians 15:20), which 
means that there could be no physical resur- 
rection. 

Suppose Jesus were physically resurrected ; 
His body was material the same as the bodies 
of other men. He would have to be clothed 
to protect his body. He would have to eat 
and sleep the same as men, or His physical 
body would die ; and if he were to ascend up 
into Heaven where there are no material 
substances, how could He live in Heaven in 
His physical body? If Jesus was a man the 
same as other men, which according to the 



456 SPIRITUALISM 

Bible, He was, He could stand only so much 
of physical suffering before He would die, as 
there is a limit to the endurance of all men. 

Captain John A. MacReady, Chief of the 
flying section, United States Army, Air Ser- 
vice, at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, reached 
an altitude of 40,000 feet, where the ther- 
mometer registered 87 degrees below zero. 
He used a LePere biplane equipped with a 
General Electric supercharger or Oxygen 
" booster." This is the highest altitude ever 
reached by man. The sun's rays were so 
bright he had to wear goggles to protect his 
eyes; besides all his clothing, he had an elec- 
tric pad around his body with electric wires 
connected with the pad to the dynamo of his 
engine, in order to keep his body from freez- 
ing. Jesus's body was material; He never 
could have ascended as high as Heaven with 
His physical body without freezing it. How, 
then, could He have been physically resur- 
rected? 

Jesus was a man, the same as men of to- 
day; born under the same law, lived as do 
the men of today. He ate, drank, grew 
weary, slept, and when He was crucified His 
body passed into decomposition as do all other 
bodies, and helped to fertilize the gardens and 



The True Resurrection 457 

olive groves of Jerusalem. As St. Paul so 
truly said, " He had a physical body and a 
Spirit body, and when He died His Spirit 
body passed on into eternal life." 

According to the teachings of Soul Science, 
the Resurrection morning will come, but 
there will never be a day when all the billions 
and billions of people who have lived in this 
world will rise in their material bodies and be 
known or judged for the good or evil deeds 
done while in their bodies; that would be 
utterly impossible. At death our material 
world comes to an end; we lay aside our 
material bodies. That is our resurrection 
day, for immediately we receive our spiritual 
body. Every person who lives must die; so 
at death it does not make any difference 
where we may be at the time, there and then 
will be our resurrection morn. 

How beautiful appear these passages of 
scripture when one has outgrown the preju- 
dice, the erroneous idea of a physical resur- 
rection which is contrary to every known 
law and principle of nature, and when one 
is capable of examining into things with a 
clear vision and spiritual perception. 

If in speaking of the resurrection you 
mean the resurrection of the spirit of man, 



458 SPIRITUALISM 

there is no such thing; it can not rise again, 
because it is never down ; it can not be revital- 
ized, because it is vitality. The Spirit in man, 
is a portion of the active working force, or 
principle, that forms the basic hypothesis of 
the universe; it can not cease action for the 
smallest fractional period of time; if so, the 
laws of the infinite would not be perfect, and 
chaos would reign — globes, orbs, and solar 
systems could not retain their position, and 
destruction would be the order of the day. 

Even while you sleep your Spirit, is ever 
active; so when you are passing through the 
change called death, the Spirit does not cease 
to be active, but a dissolution takes place 
between the spirit and the physical existence. 
It is the re-birth spoken of by Jesus, born 
again into spirit life. How can the spirit 
sleep? Where does it sleep? We know that 
the body disintegrates, it can not remain 
there. All nature points to the absurdity of 
a physical resurrection. 

When we draw a comparison between the 
doctrine of physical resurrection, and a true 
doctrine of spiritual birth into higher life, 
how quickly our inner sense harmonizes the 
truth with our highest ideals ; how beautifully 
it harmonizes with every known law of nature 



The True Resurrection 459 

in its innumerable avenues of the phenomenal 
working of her formative and constructive 
energies. The spirit of man! Life, Spirit, 
Force, ever active, can not slumber or remain 
dormant; working forever under the eternal 
laws of progress, unfolding every moment of 
time ; ever reaching out for something higher, 
grander, more beautiful, coming closer in 
touch with the Master, the Divine, the In- 
finite. 



From Immortality, New York, April. 

I have been holding meetings in Tampa 
every Thursday and Sunday for three 
months. The meetings were all well attended, 
but I was obliged to discontinue them as many 
of my patients desired treatments at the 
same hours the meetings were held. 

When Mrs. Thomas and I first came to 
Tampa last October, I commenced to treat a 
gentleman seventy-eight years young who 
was paralyzed and could not move or speak a 
word. He can now speak, and is able to 
stand up. I have been with him much of the 
time, and was not able to attend Lake Helen 
Spiritualist Camp Meeting, as well as many 
other places we would have liked to visit. 

We are members of the Tampa Tourists 



460 SPIRITUALISM 

Club, which has excursions running out of 
Tampa every week, either by boat or rail. I 
have lectured and given messages for the 
Tampa Spiritualist Church, and lectured for 
the Tin Can Tourists Club in their Auditori- 
um at De Soto Park, Tampa; I have also 
lectured several times for the Golden Rule 
Psychology Class, at their Club Rooms, and 
have had many other calls to speak that I 
could not fill. 

When we came to Florida I expected to 
have a rest, instead of that I have been busy 
all the time either one way or another. We 
leave Tampa April 17th for Jacksonville; 
will sail from there on the 19th for Boston 
by way of the Merchants' and Miners' Trans- 
portation Company Line, Steamer Persian, 
stopping at Savannah, Norfolk, and Balti- 
more, and arriving at Boston the 28th. We 
expect to leave Boston for Vermont May 1st. 

After April 10th please address my mail 
to my post office, Back Bay, Boston, Mass., 
and oblige, 

Fraternally, 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas. 



At Brattleboro, Vt. 

From The Daily Reformer, May 4, 



The True Resurrection 461 

Dr. and Mrs. Franklin A. Thomas, who 
spent the winter in the South, have rented 
an apartment in the Hooker Building, Main 
Street, for the summer. 



At Boston, Mass. 

From The Banner of Life, May 6. 
The Editor: We had a pleasant call Sat- 
urday last from Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, 
who has just returned from Tampa, Florida, 
where he had been during the winter months. 
He left Monday for Brattleboro, Vermont, 
where he is to locate for the summer. 



May 6. 
Somerville, Mass. — The Church of Higher 
Spiritualism, School Street. Sunday, April 
30, the services were opened with prayer by 
the president. Rev. Franklin A. Thomas 
was one of the speakers and message 
bearers. They all did fine work. 



May 6. 
Boston — Wigwam, Tremont Street, Bible 
Spiritual Society. Four splendid meetings 
for the week. Many of our best workers with 
us all doing excellent work for the cause of 
Spiritualism. The manager of the Banner 



462 SPIRITUALISM 

of Life was with us Sunday evening and 
favored us with a very interesting lecture on 
the advance of Spiritualism. Dr. Thomas 
followed with a brief history of the rapid 
advance and progress of the cause in which 
we are interested. Many fine messages were 
given by our workers, all being recognized. 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

CRITICS FAILED IN LONDON 

From The Banner of Life, Boston, Mass., 
May 13. 

We think our readers will be interested in 
reading the following article copied from the 
" Two Worlds " of April 21, 1922, (published 
in Manchester, England), when they learn 
that the Mr. Marriott is the same man, who 
in his syndicate letter, that we understand 
is being published all over the United States 
and which was run in the Boston Post Sun- 
day, April 30th, 1922, says that he can dupli- 
cate any phase of mediumship of any medium 
and it is ALL a fake — here is a case where 
he failed to make good his boast: 

In accepting Mr. Stuart's challenge to de- 
bate the subject of " Spirit Photography " in 
Manchester, offered in the Essex Hall, Lon- 
don, Mr. Marriott also claimed that he could 
produce a similar result to that exhibited by 
Mr. Stuart and under the same conditions. 



464 SPIRITUALISM 

Messrs. Bryant & Spedding, photographic 
chemists, had packed and carefully sealed 
four plates from a packet from their stock. 
These had been taken by Mr. Stuart to his 
home, where he, Mrs. Stuart and their 
daughter, with a doctor and his wife, each 
handled the packet for ten minutes, in the 
course of their usual circle. The plates were 
then brought to Messrs. B. & S., who certified 
that the seals were intact and the packet, to 
all appearances, had not been tampered with. 
Messrs. B. & S. then opened the packet and 
developed the plates. Two of them showed 
supernormal markings, on one of which Mr. 
Stuart was able to distinguish the face of 
his brother, who had been killed in a flying 
accident in 1912. This was the case which 
Mr. Marriott offered to duplicate. 

Prior to the Marriott-Oaten debate on April 
10th, Messrs. Stuart and Marriott met at 
3 P. M. at the Victoria Hotel, Manchester. 
They were accompanied by Mr. Albert Wil- 
kinson, Mr. Curzon, of the " Daily Dispatch," 
and Bryant & Spedding's representatives, 
who brought the sealed packet containing 
four plates. Each of the five sitters held the 
packet for ten minutes (70 minutes in all). 
The packet was then taken to the photo- 



Critics Failed in London 465 

graphic department of the " Daily Dispatch/' 
opened and developed in the presence of four 
of the company, Mr. Marriott not being 
present. The result was that all plates de- 
veloped perfectly clear, and showed no mark- 
ings whatever. Mr. Marriott, therefore, did 
not produce similar effects to those included 
in the challenge. 

The terms of challenge may be judged by 
the following extracts from letters : 

Mr. Marriott to Mr. Stuart, March 25th. 

" Let us have the issue clearly defined. 
All that I can say is that I will guarantee to 
reproduce whatever any spirit photographer, 
amateur or professional, has produced up to 
date, under the same conditions." 

Mr. Stuart to Mr. Marriott, March 31st. 

" What you have to do is to imitate my final 
test. . . .and unless you are a psychic your- 
self, and abuse your privilege as such, you 
will get nothing on the plates in question. 
Trusting I have now made the issue quite 
clear, etc. ,, 

The test was tried, and Mr. Marriott failed. 



On April 10, 1922, at the Victoria Hotel, 
Manchester, we, the undersigned, sat between 
the hours of 3:30 and 4:40 P. M. for seventy 



466 SPIRITUALISM 

minutes for the purpose of obtaining a psy- 
chograph similar to that obtained by Mr. 
Stuart at his home last summer. The plates 
were packed and sealed by the photographic 
chemists, Messrs. Bryant & Spedding, exactly 
as they had been for Mr. A. J. Stuart in 
every detail, and each member held four 
plates enclosed in the sealed packet for ten 
minutes each, and altogether for twenty 
minutes. The packets were then taken over 
to the photographic department of the " Daily 
Sketch " Office and developed by one of the 
staff in the presence of all except Mr. Mar- 
riott. The four plates were blank in every 
detail. 

For and on behalf of Messrs. Bryant & 
Spedding. 

H. Siddal, M. P. S. 

Albert Wilkinson. 

A. J. Stuart. 



At Brattleboro, Vt. 

From The Banner of Life, June 3, 1922. 

Dr. Franklin A. Thomas, Brattleboro, Vt., 
writes : Since the first of this month on our 
return from spending the winter in Florida, 
I have had several calls to serve societies, as 
many seem to think that I am now living in 



Critics Failed in London 467 

Boston. We arrived in Boston Friday, April 
28th, and left Monday, May 1st. This is the 
only time I have been in the city for a year. 
I shall not be ready to serve societies until 
my return to Boston the first of October, as 
my time will be taken up in giving treatments 
until then. 

Please address all letters for 1922-23 en- 
gagements to me, at Brattleboro, Vermont. 



At Springfield, Mass. 

From The Springfield Union, July 8. 
International Spiritualist Union, McKinney 
Hall, South Main Street. Sunday and Tues- 
day evening services at 7:45. Sunday, July 
9, Rev. Franklin A. Thomas was the lecturer 
and message bearer. 



From The Banner of Life, Boston, Mass., 
July 8. 

Springfield, Mass. — Internationalist Spir- 
itualist Union, McKinney Hall, South Main 
Street. Sunday, July 9, Rev. Franklin A. 
Thomas, D. S. S., of Brattleboro, Vt, will act 
as lecturer and message bearer. He will 
speak on "Why Every One Should Develop 
Mediumship." Dr. Thomas comes to us 



468 SPIRITUALISM 

highly recommended and we are sure we 
shall all enjoy a very pleasant evening. 



From The Banner of Life, July 15. 
Springfield, Mass. — Internationl Spiritual- 
ist Union, McKinney Hall, South Main Street, 
Sunday, July 9, 7:45 P. M. Our services 
opened with music and invocation. Rev. 
Franklin A. Thomas of Boston and Brattle- 
boro, Vt., occupied our platform and gave a 
very interesting lecture on " Why Every One 
Should Develop Mediumship." He explained 
very clearly that by learning the laws of 
mediumship every one could develop so as 
to get these things themselves. We found the 
lecture very stimulating. Following the 
lecture he gave out messages which were 
recognized by all who were fortunate to be 
reached. 



CHAPTER XL 

DEATH'S mystery 

A Great Astronomer Reconciles SPIRIT- 
ISM and SCIENCE 
From The Boston Herald, Sept 30, 1922. 

Camille Flammarion, now an octogenar- 
ian, began at least half a century ago an 
investigation of " psychic phenomena " for 
himself, and has since reached conclusions 
which show, as Crookes and Lodge have 
shown, that " spiritualistic " beliefs are per- 
fectly consistent with devotion to the aims 
and methods of science. ... He sub- 
mitted evidence to show that mind activity 
in man does not depend upon a physical set- 
ting, but upon the existence of a soul separ- 
able from the body; the testimony now added 
goes toward establishing as a fact that, as 
the living may project their soul forms or 
" phantasms " to a distance, so the dying or 
dead may thus announce their passing to 
relatives, friends or acquaintances, and may 



470 SPIRITUALISM 

do this not only as apparitions, but also as 
mental images, by noises and various other 
uncanny experiences. 

Besides quoting occasionally from psychical 
literature, the author brings forward the 
results of his own 50 years study in this 
field, asserting as he presents the cases, all of 
them documented, that they represent only 
a minimum of those in his possession. As 
outcome he holds that, after all errors and 
possibilities of deception have been allowed 
for, such phenomena as those witnessed are 
now finally proved " beyond refutation," with 
the certain establishment of the so-called 
" supernormal " powers of the soul and of 
the truth of its survival after death. In 
announcing this conclusion, M. Flammarion 
has much to say regarding people who refuse 
to accept the testimony, or who, convinced 
against their will, remain of the same opin- 
ion. Himself a declared foe of credulity, he 
demands complete surrender once the phe- 
nomena have been lifted by scientific proce- 
dure into the clear air of fact. 

He writes of those " who are afraid to 
speak out regarding what they have seen 
or know," and of " men who have no doubt 
of the undeniable existence of these phenom- 



Death's Mystery 471 

ena, yet dare say nothing, through mean- 
ness unpardonable in minds of real worth," 
calling them " unworthy of the name of 
savants." He recognizes " three kinds of ad- 
versaries virtually unconquerable — those 
who make sport of everything, but are inter- 
ested in nothing; materialists convinced on 
principle that matter produces every thing, 
and human beings confined within a narrow 
dogma, whatever their religion, sure of their 
beliefs and satisfied with them. " But he is 
not dismayed ; he looks for the germination of 
" the good seed," and his final word is : " Let 
us never despair of progress." 



DEATH 

Passing from the shadow 
Into Eternal Day; 
Why do you call this death, 
This sweet going away? 



HOW TO HOLD CIRCLES FOR DEVELOPING 
MEDIUMSHIP AT HOME 

Twelve Lessons that Every One can Understand and Apply. 
By Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S. 

This book is filled with practical instruction for all who 
seek to acquire the power of getting into communication 
with the spirits of the departed, or to further develop 
and perfect Mediumistic powers already acquired. 

It matters not how many books for development you may 
have bought, you want this one. It's different! It is 
superior to all books of its kind. 

It teaches how to sit for slate and trumpet development 
and materialization; how to become a healer; how to help 
the sick through Spirit Power, with or without the knowl- 
edge of the patient; it is a complete guide for beginners 
in sitting for spiritual development. There is no mystic 
power possessed by clairvoyants that its pages do not dis- 
close. 

It is written by an Expert, in simple, every-day language; 
its teachings can be understood and applied by any one, 
and are the result of thirty years practical experience of 
the Author, who is better known perhaps in the development 
of Mediumship than any independent writer today. 

Your future success, prosperity and happiness will be 
advanced by following its teachings. 

For sale by the Author only, Brookline, Mass. 



SOUL SCIENCE, THE PROOF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH 
By Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S. 
Who will assert that Man is Wholly Clay — ALTO- 
GETHER PHYSICAL? 



Who will deny that the SPIRITUAL in Man is the 
better part of him? What would Man be without it? i 

As Man has physical eyes to enable him to see physical 
objects, so has he SPIRITUAL EYES to enable him to 
perceive the phenomena of the Spiritual World. 

For untold centuries Ignorance and Superstition sealed 
up the Spiritual Eyes of Man. Now a " great wave that 
rolls around the world " is submerging the forces of Igno- 
rance and Superstition. 

This Volume will enable you to open your spiritual eyes, 
and bring to you a realization of the vast world beyond 
the physical. 

It opens wide the door of Mystery, removing all barriers. 
It is intended to meet the needs of all who can not avail 
themselves of " Soul Science " Meetings to teach them how 
to open and use their Spirit Eyes. 

It is a book that will bring joy to many thousands of 
hearts. It marks an Epoch in the history of Religious 
Publications. 

It is written in the plainest and simplest of language, and 
can be understood, and its teachings applied, by all. 

Order a copy today! 

For sale only by the Author, Brookline, Mass. 



HOW TO DEVELOP PSYCHIC POWER 
An absolutely new instruction book in the development 
of Concentration, Psychic Power, Deep Breathing, Health, 
and Success. 

Rev. Franklin A. Thomas, D. S. S. 

This is a most practical treatise by an expert healer, 
giving, among other things, simple and complete directions 
in breathing. It is a guide in the development of concentra- 
tion and Psychic power, and will lead to health and happi- 
ness. 

In it the author has introduced a series of breathing 
exercises for the purpose of assisting the student in 
acquiring the habit of correct breathing. A careful study 
of the rules given for psychic development will prepare 
you mentally, morally and physically to become a healer. 

It explains what you should eat; how to breathe to 
develop long wind and sound lungs; how to sleep to get 
the greatest benefit, mental and physical; what exercises 
will insure the highest development. 

It teaches the control of temper and nerves, both of 
which are essential in developing Psychic Power. It will 
teach you how to concentrate, and this will enable you to 
practice and learn the Secret of developing Psychic Power 
and self-control. It will be an eye-opener for you. There 
are many other equally wonderful things to be gained from 
its study. It is interesting and instructive from beginning 
to end. 

It is thoroughly reliable as a guide and teacher, and the 
information it contains is worth many times its cost. 

For sale only by the Author, Brookline, Mass. 



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